Apple’s development of virtual reality software content and tools is fundamental to creating experiences that give the headset of the future a purpose. Its latest big new product, the Apple Watch, launched with about 3,000 apps but struggled to boot, and tech reviewers said few of those apps were useful. Similar shortcomings have remained the MetaQuest virtual reality headset, whose sales exceeded 10 million last year, with many considering it a gaming device.
From the original Macintosh to the iPad, Apple has sought products that attract a wide range of potential customers and have a range of uses. It sold about 240 million iPhones last year, which is about half of its total $366 billion in sales. Analysts say that if the headphones are worth it, you will need utilities beyond the realm of specialized video games.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has been talking about the potential of augmented reality for years. In 2016, he told investors that the company was investing heavily in it and considered it a “great business opportunity”. At the time, several employees on Apple’s campus were reading “Ready Player One,” a futuristic virtual reality novel, and talking about the possibilities of creating Apple’s own mixed reality world.
Apple has hired an engineer from Dolby Technologies, Mike Rockwell, to lead the effort. Two people familiar with the project said that its early efforts to create an augmented reality product were hampered by low computing power. These people said ongoing challenges with its battery power have forced Apple to delay its release until next year.
The augmented reality initiative has caused a rift within Apple. At least two members of the industrial design team said they have left the company, in part because of their concerns about developing a product that could change the way people interact with each other. These sensitivities grew within the company amid growing public concern about children’s screen time.
With Mr. Rockwell at the helm of the company, the product will be one of the first to come out of Apple led by its engineering team rather than co-founder Steve Jobs, who died in 2011, and former chief design officer, Jony Ive, who left the company in 2019. Mr. Ive led and its Apple Watch project designers, who defined what it looks like, how it works, and how it was marketed.
Mr. Favreau’s programming shows how Apple is trying to differentiate its product from the Meta. It also shows how the company is capitalizing on the relationships that have grown in Hollywood since the launch of Apple TV + in 2019.
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