'Profits will follow' if Apple can nail AR & VR experiences, Cook says
Apple CEO Tim Cook once again touched on the topics of augmented and virtual reality during a Q4 results call, avoiding specific talk about future hardware while hinting at the company's approach.
Google Glass, a precursor to modern AR technology.
"In terms of monetization of AR/VR, we focus first and foremost on customer experience," Cook said in response to an analyst question. "We're all about making sure the customer experience is great. We think if we get the experience right, revenue and profits will follow. We're very much focused on the experience right now."
The executive called AR "profound," but actually downplayed the first ARKit apps appearing on the App Store.
"I view AR as profound. Not today, not the app you'll see on the App Store today, but what it will be, what it can be, I think it's profound, and I think Apple is in a really unique position to lead in this area," he said.
Cook in fact claimed that AR will "change the way we use technology forever," and that "it should be a help for humanity, not an isolation kind of thing for humanity."
Apple has been extremely secretive about its long-term AR plans, but has neither confirmed nor denied rumors that it's working on AR glasses. The company has allegedly been experimenting with several different kinds and has yet to settle.
Google Glass, a precursor to modern AR technology.
"In terms of monetization of AR/VR, we focus first and foremost on customer experience," Cook said in response to an analyst question. "We're all about making sure the customer experience is great. We think if we get the experience right, revenue and profits will follow. We're very much focused on the experience right now."
The executive called AR "profound," but actually downplayed the first ARKit apps appearing on the App Store.
"I view AR as profound. Not today, not the app you'll see on the App Store today, but what it will be, what it can be, I think it's profound, and I think Apple is in a really unique position to lead in this area," he said.
Cook in fact claimed that AR will "change the way we use technology forever," and that "it should be a help for humanity, not an isolation kind of thing for humanity."
Apple has been extremely secretive about its long-term AR plans, but has neither confirmed nor denied rumors that it's working on AR glasses. The company has allegedly been experimenting with several different kinds and has yet to settle.
Comments
Surprised he included VR in his statement.
Lightweight AR Glasses are announced in early 2019 for release in late 2019.
Now, he's starting with VR, so VR is somewhere in the path for 2022. I would guess.
re: "We're all about making sure the customer experience is great. We think if we get the experience right, revenue and profits will follow. We're very much focused on the experience right now."
I'm pretty sure (judging by other things they've been doing) that he just knows this is the language he needs to use. I'm not sure he actually understands the concept. I bet he just knows it's good marketing speak he learned from Jobs. Sheesh!
One day I truly hope a company gets VR right and who better to come in late with the right way of doing things than Apple? I could be my inner Treky (or is that Trekie lol) but I really would love my own personal holodeck and be able to explore places I can't get to. Not to mention the experiences that would be available to the paralyzed, handicapped and bed ridden.
I agree but I still have hopes for Apple and VR one day.
I don't precisely agree that he doesn't understand the concept. I think he does, however, I've also seen and heard him make similar statements about other products and services, so I think at this point it's more of a mantra than anything else. I'm sure he understands the base concept of "if you build it (correctly), they will come" though.
He's seen what his company is working on; you haven't.
Speculating here, pun intended, AR glasses that switch from a real-world view to an overlay of stereo video that includes real-time data of any objects your eyes focus on along the z-axis in the real-world scene will be the most amazing and engaging thing computers have yet done for us. Just my opinion on what Tim has been tripping out on in the labs.
I find the Face Tracking very interesting ... also the bezel-less design.
Face ID has the ability to track your eyes. By fast processing of the camera signal a seamless copy of reality could be displayed on the screen of the phone. A copy of reality that fits in exactly with the actual reality around it (a very small seam being caused by the bezel). Over this copy of reality, anything could be written or drawn.
Face Tracking is great, but it is not doing much useful at the moment ... animating lumps of poo ? OK it also unlocks your iPhone but that was done well enough with the old Touch ID.
I have a feeling that Face Tracking will suddenly become a lot more useful in the not so distant future.
Also AR on iPhone X would avoid the social problems that Google Glass engendered.
I’m amazed by the armchair executives still convinced that Cook has no idea what he’s doing despite running the most successful public firm in human history for years and years. (it’s been said that even while Jobs was alive Cook performed much of the traditional CEO responsibilities while Jobs did product management, which is its own role).
Cook is better at running Apple than you are or would be. Sorry that’s hard to admit.
I don't know. I'm a old 3D guy. I've been into Sci-Fi for a long time, and probably played with some of this stuff long before Tim did. No doubt, he has more knowledge of the current and future capabilities than I do. But, I'm not so much questioning the capabilities and when we'll get there, as much as how big of a thing it will be. While I can see some usefulness, just like I see for the Apple Watch, I don't see it as any kind of game-changer. It's a really cool science-geek-out kind of novelty, though.... with some verticals.
Bingo! That said, the unknown here is how fast society might shift on what is creepy or not. And, it seems to be moving at light speed in un-thought-out directions.
He's better at running it, which is different than leading it. I'm not saying I'd do a better job at all. I am saying that I understand what made Apple successful, and I see all kinds of signs that they are diverging from that path. So, it's more like.... "armchair executives still convinced that Cook has no idea what he’s doing despite changing the most successful public firm". My (our) point, is that if Apple fundamentally changes what made them successful, they might not be down the road somewhere, no matter how well managed.
What Tim is talking about when he says Apple is focusing on "customer experience" is clearly something more than what you are talking about, which they already have running on iPads in the new Apple Park visitor center. I'm almost positive that he's talking about a way to make wearable screens that would only make sense if they were binocular, stereo 3D, as well as being transparent to the Reality part of AR, the world you see around you when you wear your normal glasses or sunglasses, in other words.
If you don't think a real-time index of the world around you that's connected to a tracking of your binocular gaze into a scene in three dimensions, whereby you can fix on an object at a given distance in the scene, and the system will be aware of that fixation and respond accordingly, if you don't think this is at least a "game-changing" pointing device for a computer interface, then there's no hope — until maybe you do like Jobs did and open up your right brain by taking some proper doses.