Meta’s former Head of Oculus, Hugo Barra, thinks the Apple Vision Pro might be an over-engineered devkit. The remark isn’t a scathing critique, but more of a cautionary prediction based on Barra’s own experience with the industry.
Hugo Barra joined Meta in 2017 as Vice President of Virtual Reality and Head of Oculus. One year later he would oversee the launch of the Oculus Go, something he deems the “biggest product failure” he’s ever been associated with.
Most users who bought Oculus Go completely abandoned the headset after a few weeks.
Barra shares my view regarding the Apple Vision Pro. That the XR industry needed Apple to enter the market. The release of the Vision Pro has renewed interest in virtual reality. People who never gave the concept a second thought are now talking about it. Not all of these conversations are positive but hey, any attention is good attention.
And now that Meta has opened up Quest OS to third parties we’re finally looking at a possibility of an Android versus iOS type of war, but in XR. Barra believes that this will usher in potential customers and that it’s now up to the industry to prove that XR is worth it.
Vision Pro an over-engineered devkit
Putting on the Vision Pro transports you to a whole new world. | Image credit — PhoneArena
Barra compares the Vision Pro to the Oculus Rift DK1 which was the first headset Oculus ever released. As the ‘DK’ in the name implies, it was a devkit. The first Rift was engineered to drum up interest by developers before Oculus even thought of releasing a commercial product.
Barra points out how the Apple Vision Pro has more sensors than were necessarily needed to provide the same experience. He realizes why Apple did it, but the comparison with the Oculus Rift DK1 starts to make a bit more sense.
This over-spec’ing is unsurprising and characteristic of a v1 product where its creator wants to ensure it survives the hardest tests early users will no doubt want to put the product through.
— Hugo Barra, Hugo’s Blog, March 2024
According to Barra, the headset sacrificed user comfort to ship as feature-packed as possible. He also thinks the Vision Pro couldn’t have looked and felt like an Apple product if it weighed less.
Another reason the Vision Pro doesn’t appeal to most average consumers is the selection of apps, says Barra. As he points out: Apple continues to focus on AR experiences that enhance Apple’s ecosystem. However, most VR users today use their headsets for gaming. And there is a distinct lack of fully immersive VR games on Apple’s App Store.
Making the same mistakes as Oculus Go
Apple is focusing on marketing the wrong things according to Barra.
One of the core points Barra makes is that the Vision Pro is going to face the same hurdles the Oculus Go did. According to him, Apple is marketing all the wrong things to try and sell its headset.
Apple’s current marketing for the Vision Pro is mostly about productivity and media consumption. This goes counter to what most of the XR industry actually cares for: gaming. Furthermore, Barra says the novelty of consuming media in VR wears off quite quickly.
The lesson we learned is that watching traditional (rectilinear) TV or movies in VR feels incredibly compelling at first, but the novelty wears off for most people after a few weeks.
— Hugo Barra, Hugo’s Blog, March 2024
Barra presents three crucial reasons why the Oculus Go lost its novelty, and the Vision Pro probably will too.
It is much more physically uncomfortable, especially for extended periods of use.
There are a lot more steps involved, and thus, a lot more friction to get started on watching something in VR.
It is socially isolating. Many people prefer consuming media as a social activity, not alone inside a headset.
Barra does see potential in one aspect: live sports. He believes if Apple is able to set up the infrastructure for it the Vision Pro could be marketed as something to watch sports on.
The high-quality displays will, in Barra’s opinion, provide an even better experience to sports fans than a 4K TV. However, Apple will definitely have to introduce an option to co-watch with friends and family to truly sell the headset to most sports fans.
There’s no doubt that the Apple Vision Pro is one of the best AR headsets ever made. But Barra has succinctly put together the reasons why Apple might have had to slow down production and delay a successor to the Vision Pro.
The company is also apparently confused by how to make the Vision Pro cheaper. So it might take a while before Apple understands how to approach the XR market.
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Abdullah is an ardent believer in the future of VR, and can't wait to see what more it brings to the table as technology improves. He enjoys covering new software releases in the XR industry, as well as major news about hardware and companies focused on VR.
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