Tim Cook may be launching Apple VR headset earlier than engineers want

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited March 2023
The expected 2023 launch of the Apple VR headset was an executive decision against the advice of the company's industrial design team, a report claims, with the latter preferring to wait until it could release AR glasses.

A render of a potential Apple headset [AppleInsider]
A render of a potential Apple headset [AppleInsider]


Apple's long-rumored VR headset has been teased and talked about for years, but has yet to make it to launch. While current speculation has Apple finally bringing out the headset as soon as this summer's WWDC, some within the company apparently would've preferred waiting even longer.

In a profile of the project by the Financial Times, the push for launch is caused there being "huge pressure to ship," according to a former engineer who worked on the headset. "They have been postponing the launch each year for the past [few] years."

Though it is unclear why specifically it is frequently delayed, multiple people with knowledge of the project allude to there being tensions between the operations team and the famous industrial design team.

Operations is keen to release the "version one" product, the currently-speculated ski goggle headset design that would enable typical VR functionality. By contrast, the design team wanted to wait until a lightweight pair of AR glasses could be technically feasible to produce, though that could still be years away.

Apple CEO Tim Cook apparently sided with operations head Jeff Williams on the decision, sources claim, overruling the designers who, under Jony Ive, had considerable influence over future products. With design reporting to Williams and increased staff turnover, the design team has seemingly lost most of its sway.

Such a move to an operations-centric approach is a "logical progression" for the company under Cook's management, a former engineer offered. They also said the best part of working at Apple was to create engineering solutions to the "insane requirements" from the design team, but that feeling deteriorated over the years.

It is also anticipated that this initial offering will be a fairly low seller, with around a million units planned to be sold within 12 months, at a cost of $3,000 apiece.

While this may be considered low to observers given the scale of the company, the historical growth of product sales for other milestone products like the iPhone and Apple Watch may once again happen to the headset.

Analysts also reckon that the first release will be sold to loyal users and to show the development community something they can create apps for. With 34 million registered developers working in the Apple ecosystem and potentially making apps for the platform, the first unit could be used as a catalyst for growth for the second-generation release and beyond.

Read on AppleInsider
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 22
    blastdoorblastdoor Posts: 3,570member
    If true, it will mean marketing needs to do a great job explaining what this product is and who it’s for in order to set expectations. 

    Maybe one option would be to lease (not sell) it to registered developers only. 
  • Reply 2 of 22
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 8,006member
    My wife would be interested if it could beat the Quest 2 at its own game. That would mean price and content. 

    We cancelled the Quest 1 upgrade when Meta made a Facebook account a requirement for the Quest 2.

    There were a few AR type releases at MWC this month and they are looking sleeker and sleeker.

    However, for all things VR, AR, XR content and transport content are key. 

    That means gigabit Wi-Fi from a fibre connection or 5G.
    edited March 2023 h2p
  • Reply 3 of 22
    blastdoor said:
    If true, it will mean marketing needs to do a great job explaining what this product is and who it’s for in order to set expectations. 

    Maybe one option would be to lease (not sell) it to registered developers only. 
    That's what I'm afraid of. If your product sucks make sure marketing is great.

    If Apple at launch has nothing useful to show off then this might truely be the Newton (the major failure for the last post-Steve CEO) moment for the current Post-Steve CEO. Apple used to be able to proof it's not just a cool technical toy but also solves something in an 'insanely great' way and at this point there's nothing 'insanely great' with those heave VR headsets (except the price maybe).

    nubuswatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 22
    genovellegenovelle Posts: 1,481member
    blastdoor said:
    If true, it will mean marketing needs to do a great job explaining what this product is and who it’s for in order to set expectations. 

    Maybe one option would be to lease (not sell) it to registered developers only. 
    I think the price will pretty much make that clear. The regular non technical Joe is not rushing out to buy a $3000 headset. 
    williamlondon
  • Reply 5 of 22
    Uhhhh...AR glasses and VR headsets aren't the same engineering objective. That's two different products. 
    bloggerblogfred1danhFileMakerFellerInspiredCodewatto_cobrabyronl
  • Reply 6 of 22
    montomonto Posts: 4member
    When it comes to deciding on the release readiness of a product, particularly with hardware, I tend to lean towards the engineers' perspective. This is because software can be updated and improved upon, but purchasing a faulty hardware product can result in being stuck with a subpar item until a newer and better version is released, which would require an additional purchase.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 22
    Maybe Tim is tired of seeing the scuba/ski goggles renders.
    Japheywatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 22
    mobirdmobird Posts: 758member
    Looking for paying Beta Testers...
  • Reply 9 of 22
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,481moderator

    Operations is keen to release the "version one" product, the currently-speculated ski goggle headset design that would enable typical VR functionality. By contrast, the design team wanted to wait until a lightweight pair of AR glasses could be technically feasible to produce, though that could still be years away.
    Lightweight AR glasses are already shipping so that technology is available just now to some extent:



    That may not meet the requirements for a good experience in terms of battery life and image quality though.

    Apple may decide to compromise for the early generation products. Even so, the lightest iPhone is capable of delivering this kind of AR experience so all they have to do is find a form factor that converts it into a headset.

    There's a compact VR headset here for $999:



    Apple's engineering team can do better than this. The technology is here for Apple to make a really good product in this space.
    bloggerblogFileMakerFellerwatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 22
    programmerprogrammer Posts: 3,480member
    Sometimes the best way forward is to put something into the market, and increment on it.  I've seen design teams lose their way because they got too detached from market realities.  Just grinding away on a new thing in a lab for years and years doesn't ensure you're going to make forward progress.  Often it can be just the opposite, and what you need is for an exec to step in and put a crisp deliverable in front of you.
    thtInspiredCodewatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 22
    mattinozmattinoz Posts: 2,482member
    Would be expecting the first release to be a developer tech preview that early adopters will buy anyway if they can. 
    Build the hype build the catalogue of software over the 12 month then release the actual first gen. 

    This is a product that would seem to need that sort of lead in time 
    InspiredCodewatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 22
    9secondkox29secondkox2 Posts: 3,122member
    Yeah… no. 

    Cook is a supply chain wizard. 

    If anyone understands not launching until all the pieces are in place p, it’s Cook. Especially after the Maps fiasco years ago. I’m sure hee regretted my the camera choice in the rushed studio display as well. He won’t want to repeat those mistakes. 
    edited March 2023 FileMakerFellerdanoxwatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 22
    igorskyigorsky Posts: 774member
    It's amazing how quickly people are willing to believe rumors that make Cook look like an incompetent meddler when there is no history of him behaving this way.
    SerqetryFileMakerFellerbadmonkthtwatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 22
    1348513485 Posts: 371member
    I'm always dubious of "Cook decided" type of rumors. First, I doubt that anyone outside top management or department heads participates in these types of product decisions.

    Besides, Cook seems to be a consensus builder and doesn't make lone wolf decisions. That's why Apple usually has those ducks in a row when something new comes out. Not always, mind you.

    The product is interesting but not compelling.
    FileMakerFellerwatto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 22
    Very a la original iPhone!
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 22
    I can believe that the leadership team is pushing for something to be finished as quickly as possible. I can't believe that something will be rushed to market just because there's demand from the tech pundits.

    Apple always attempts to solve the problem at hand properly, in a manner that suits the largest number of people. From that, one can infer that design (how it works) remains more important than engineering (how we make it work).
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 22
    badmonkbadmonk Posts: 1,332member
    This FT article rings true to me, especially when I think of the Apple Watch, the gold iteration was crazy expensive, it had suboptimal battery life and was slow.  It was panned by the techno-geeks.

    It then took awhile before the health focus came into view and then the product took over the smart watch market.

    I for one never wanted to wear a conventional watch again and now I can’t think of not living with my Apple Watch Ultra (the first one I purchased for myself).

    I suspect VR will follow the same trajectory for Apple.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 22
    danoxdanox Posts: 3,383member
    Yeah… no. 

    Cook is a supply chain wizard. 

    If anyone understands not launching until all the pieces are in place p, it’s Cook. Especially after the Maps fiasco years ago. I’m sure hee regretted my the camera choice in the rushed studio display as well. He won’t want to repeat those mistakes. 
    I hope not, you’re so right about that camera on that monitor, with the cameras that are on the iPhone there shouldn’t never be a camera on a Mac monitor or a Mac computer or anything else going forward that does not equal what put into an iPhone, Apple should leverage that huge iPhone supply chain to make that happen from now on.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 22
    danoxdanox Posts: 3,383member
    JP234 said:
    All well and good, but so far I've seen nothing in the AR/VR world of hardware that would remotely resemble an Apple design aesthetic. And that includes the artist renderings of Apple's rumored product(s).

    Seems like if you want to use any of them, Apple or not, you're going to look like a total geek. And by that I mean the traditional town drunk who was hired by the traveling circus to squat in a pit and bite the heads off chickens while muttering and screaming unintelligibly, being billed as "The Wild Man of Borneo." Not a computer expert.
    I don’t think the technology is here nor do I think Apple has the software that would be used with it ready, if that new Apple device doesn’t look like a regular pair of glasses with everything hardware wise inside the normal glass frames it is dead on arrival. I don’t see how anything released by Apple would work at this time.

    The only thing that could possibly save it, is if Apple has created some sort of software that can act as an OS for a whole new ecosystem.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 22
    chutzpahchutzpah Posts: 392member
    Yeah… no. 

    Cook is a supply chain wizard. 

    If anyone understands not launching until all the pieces are in place p, it’s Cook. Especially after the Maps fiasco years ago. I’m sure hee regretted my the camera choice in the rushed studio display as well. He won’t want to repeat those mistakes. 
    Not a very convincing argument.

    "This guy really knows what he's doing.  As evidence I present the times where he's fucked up, because he must have learned from them."
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