news

whip bull report, september 29 news, according to bloomberg, columnist mark gurman pointed out that apple’s vision pro headset faces completely different challenges. it wants to build the product into a family of devices with different features and price points. but it doesn’t start with a rock-solid foundation. if apple ends up succeeding in the headset space, those products may look and feel completely different from today's vision pro.

while the vision pro is an amazing piece of technology, the headset is really more of a tech showpiece than an actual consumer product. there's no reason for people to buy a vision pro instead of a computer. there is also the issue of price. at $3,500, the vision pro is out of reach for most people.

last week, meta platforms inc. unveiled a slew of new technologies in the field — and highlighted how apple appears to be on the wrong track.

at meta's connect conference, the company unveiled the latest version of its ray-ban smart glasses. the glasses aren't an engineering marvel, nor are they trying to be a true augmented reality device. but the glasses became a hit with consumers thanks to a combination of smart design, practical functionality and effective marketing — areas where apple typically excels.

frankly, meta’s ray-ban smart glasses should be an apple product and fit perfectly into its wearables lineup.

apple has dealt another blow in the mixed reality world: its new quest 3s headset starts at just $299. at this price point, meta has a better chance than apple of turning mixed reality into a mainstream category. you'll see a lot of quest 3s devices being sold as gifts, or purchased by regular consumers who want a more immersive movie or gaming experience.

the apple vision pro now costs more than 10 times the price of the entry-level quest product, and it's certainly not 10 times better.

but meta's masterpiece was showing off a prototype of its orion ar glasses. the device isn't available to consumers yet, but it might still be the closest thing we've seen to practical ar glasses. the orion has an impressive 70-degree field of view (not far off the vision pro) and relies on an elegant eye and hand control approach. the ultimate goal is to replace your smartphone with something you can comfortably wear on your face all day long.

the orion glasses are still just a prototype, and i don’t expect them to become a consumer product for another three to five years. by all available evidence, the company is making faster progress on ar glasses than apple's labs.

gurman, of course, isn't convinced by the plethora of detailed patents filed by apple's engineering team. apple engineers could easily present half-baked concepts to the public, but they choose not to use this marketing approach. xiaomi is another company that likes to show off prototypes to appear innovative. we're still waiting for these prototypes to become available.

apple seems to realize that it needs to rethink its headphone strategy, but as far as i can tell, they haven't reached consensus on how to do that. as of now, the company's vision products group is evaluating several different options, including:

maintaining the status quo: this would involve keeping the vision pro largely unchanged, but focusing on cheaper versions. apple can keep costs down with cheaper materials, less in-house technology, and lower-quality displays. the company will also launch a second-generation version of the first-generation high-end vision pro, which comes with a new chip and apple intelligence.

smart display route: in this case, apple will remove the built-in computer and external battery from the vision pro and move many of the internal functions to the iphone. this would make the iphone more valuable, reduce the weight and heat of the headphones, and most importantly, eliminate hundreds of dollars worth of components to lower the price.

the smart glasses route: this means developing a product closer to the hit product meta had with ray-ban — smart glasses without ar. apple can leverage its expertise in chips and audio and its growing collection of ai tools to build a compelling device. this is essentially a copycat product, but it's also similar to a souped-up airpods -- something apple fans might like.

ultimate route: the ultimate goal is to build standalone ar glasses with high-performance lenses, battery systems, on-board computers, cameras, eye tracking and other built-in components while maintaining the size and weight of regular glasses. this has always been the ceotim cookdream, but apple had previously suspended the development of such products because the challenges were too great.

i'm surprised how a "prototype" 5-10 years later can get so much praise.

to irritate apple, cnbc posted a power lunch video on youtube on friday titled innovators vs. carriers — meta is the innovator and apple is the carrier.

even longtime apple supporter gene munster is somewhat on meta's side. while munster did try to point out that apple's car project was innovative - it's a poor example considering it has become apple's biggest failure to date.

gurman's newsletter further states, "in recent years, apple has struggled to expand beyond its core strengths. it lacks a coherent smart home strategy, its car projects failed, and the company entered artificial intelligence late and with less than stellar results. .

home operating system?

apple's next operating system may be homeos, which can run on two new smart display products. apple is making another push into the smart home market—an area where it's had mixed results so far. the most important product under development is a desktop device that combines robotic limbs with a large ipad-like display.