Virtual Reality: More Than Just "Full-Screen Mode"

Virtual Reality isn't merely an extension of your screen; it's a transformative spatial tool that overcomes our physical boundaries. Think of it this way: With VR, the limitations of your perhaps smaller office, room or apartment suddenly feel irrelevant, giving you an immediate sensation of being in a boundless digital space. This isn’t so much a feature by design; rather, it serves as a creative solution to a spatial problem.

The Mixed Reality Conundrum

Anyone who's used a consumer VR headset in a mixed-reality setting up until now can attest that the experience is usually less than ideal. Picture this: you're seeing one of your computer monitors floating back through the wall back where the kitchen is, all while your partner is seated between you and the floating screen. This is more than just a quirk; it reveals that the technology was still not quite where it needed at the time the hardware was designed, so that developers weren't yet be able to take advantage of it and make it ideal for a broad market acceptance. It's not that the industry chose to start with VR over Augmented Reality (AR) and that Apple is now simply doing it differently; The market just worked with and made the most of what was technologically viable -at the time-. For the record, I believe that we have always been working towards a world of augmented reality as an end-goal, but have also very much appreciated (and enjoyed) the path up until now.

Gaming: The Path of Least Resistance

So far, games and experiences have dominated the VR landscape, less out of design intent and more out of technological necessity. This approach has had the side effect of easing people into accepting virtual realms as another layer of the reality we live in. But from a technological standpoint, we had still been far from achieving work-related applications in consumer VR (for the most part). Issues like screen resolution and system limitations have confined even business applications to collaboration and meeting platforms, for the most part. We are only now fast approaching the point where these barriers will have been lifted!

The Tesla Autopilot Parable: A Lesson in Gradual Adoption

Drawing a parallel to another disruptive technology, let's talk about Tesla's Autopilot. Introduced in late 2015, it made us feel like we were living in the future, even when looking back, now realizing that the technology was actually quite rudimentary at that point. Flash forward to today and while Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta shows promise, it still hasn't reached the point of full autonomy. Yet, that initial rollout was crucial. It introduced the world to the concept of self-driving cars, made us (more) comfortable with the technology, while it continued to evolve. Nearly a decade later, the idea of a self-driving car doesn't seem like science fiction; it’s a rapidly approaching reality, irrespective of the exact technological method used to achieve it.

The Odyssey of Consumer VR as a Historical Exercise: From Sega to Oculus

If you're wondering why it took so long for VR to reach consumers, even though it's been an idea and somehow "around" for decades, let's go back to the early '90s. The Sega VR-1 was hyped to be the first consumer VR headset, priced at an astonishingly low $200. This was mostly possible because a component, which previously cost a staggering $20,000, could suddenly be manufactured for just $1. The market was buzzing with excitement and optimism about VR’s potential. Yet, despite all the anticipation, the Sega VR-1 never hit the market. We had to wait nearly 15 more years for the rest of the tech associated with it to catch up. And even then, when Oculus launched the Rift in 2016, it required a high-end gaming PC and altogether cost more than the $3,500 price tag of Apple's Vision Pro, which is considered an expensive premium product.

Apple's Calculated Entry

Apple is playing it smart, entering the scene only when both the technology and the market are mature enough to appreciate what they're offering. The Quest 3, priced at $500, will give us an affordable mixed-reality experience and further continue to set the stage for the Vision Pro's entrance sometime next year. This preludes a period of busy development as companies gear up for Apple's foray into the market.

The Apple Strategy: Classic Innovation

Apple is doing what it's always done best: Taking existing technologies, combining them, and further refining them and then being in a position to introduce them in a way that someone can simply look at them and say,

"I want this."