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Apple Vision Pro Testers Share Impressions: ‘By Far the Best Headset’

tigaman webdesign — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 15:19:37 +0000

Apple on Monday unveiled the Vision Pro, its long-awaited AR/VR headset. While the headset is not launching until early next year, some media outlets and YouTubers received a 30-minute guided demo of the device and shared their first impressions. The testers were not allowed to take photos or videos of the demo experience.

In a tweet, tech columnist Joanna Stern described the Vision Pro as “by far the best headset out there.” In a report for The Wall Street Journal, she elaborated that “the interface and hand gestures are intuitive, 3-D movies are finally making sense and a huge dinosaur felt like it really broke through a wall right in front of me.”

Stern did point out some negative aspects, including the headset feeling heavy and making her feel a bit nauseous when switching between virtual reality and augmented reality modes. And while the Vision Pro has some innovative features to reduce feelings of isolation, such as showing the wearer’s eyes through the front glass, Stern said it will still be a challenge for Apple to convince customers to wear the device.

In a video, well-known tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee said the Vision Pro has some features that are “the best I have ever seen in any VR headset, by a mile,” including eye tracking and hand tracking. These advanced technologies do not come cheap, of course, as the Vision Pro will be priced at a staggering $3,499. Brownlee also pointed out that the headset lacks haptic feedback since it does not have controllers.

TechCrunch‘s Matthew Panzarino said Apple has “delivered nothing less than a genuine leapfrog in capability and execution” with the Vision Pro.

“Every bit of this thing shows Apple-level ambition,” said Panzarino. “I don’t know whether it will be the ‘next computing mode,’ but you can see the conviction behind each of the choices made here. No corners cut. Full-tilt engineering on display.”

MacRumors is in attendance at WWDC and will be publishing our own first impressions of the Vision Pro soon. In the meantime, check out our first in-person look at the headset. For more details about the Vision Pro and its visionOS operating system, check out our coverage of Apple’s announcement from Monday.

Related Roundup: AR/VR Headset

Related Forum: Apple Vision Pro

This article, "Apple Vision Pro Testers Share Impressions: 'By Far the Best Headset'" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Get ready for one of Apple’s most unconventional product introductions – ever

tigaman webdesign — Wed, 17 May 2023 19:01:07 +0000

At WWDC, Apple’s annual developer conference on June 5th, the company is expected to announce a new mixed-reality (AR+VR) headset which resembles a pair of ski goggles, comes with an external battery pack, reportedly feature a $3,000 price tag, and likely won’t ship until autumn, at the earliest. Get ready for one of Apple’s most unconventional product introductions – ever!

Designer Marcus Kane’s conception Apple’s mixed reality headset (via Yanko Design)

Joanna Stern for The Wall Street Journal:

The mainstream appeal is cloudy, and the current market for these interactive headsets is smaller than any the company has entered in the past decade.

Yet Apple has a proven playbook for entering new product categories with a more polished version, expanding the whole market in the process.

“You dum-dum! iPods, iPhones, even the MacBook Air, all solved real problems. Mixed-reality headsets solve nothing!” I hear you, which is why I bring up the Apple Watch.

Just watch the 2014 introduction of the wearable. It’s pretty clear Tim Cook and team didn’t know what people would use the device for, other than to tell time.

The Apple Watch shipped anyway. But it took about four generations to land on a genuinely worthwhile purpose: health and fitness.

The headset stands to benefit from this if-you-build-it-they-will-come approach.

MacDailyNews Take: Again, Apple lost a lot when we all lost Steve Jobs. We early adopters are the guinea pigs, er… beta testers now. Standing in for Steve Jobs en masse, as best we can; product refinement takes significantly longer and it happens in public by the public.

No one should expect Apple’s headset to be laser-focused on precisely the right things as launch:

The glaring lack of a visionary who is immersed and invested in product design who is a single point of approval – Steve Jobs – means that early adopters have to take Jobs’ place en masse to perform similar functions – albeit over a significantly longer period of time – à la Apple Watch. – MacDailyNews, March 28, 2023

“Tim is not a product person.” – Steve Jobs

The Apple Watch certainly found its way – we, the users, were the Apple Watch alpha and beta testers, collectively standing in for Steve Jobs, doing much of what the singular genius would have done before release by brute force and sheer numbers after release. It took four generations of Apple Watch, but we’re here now and we wouldn’t trade the experience for anything! The same goes for Apple Glasses! — MacDailyNews, January 31, 2020

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The post Get ready for one of Apple’s most unconventional product introductions – ever appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Get ready for one of Apple’s most unconventional product introductions – ever

tigaman webdesign — Wed, 17 May 2023 19:01:07 +0000

Designer Marcus Kane’s conception Apple’s mixed reality headset (via Yanko Design)

Joanna Stern for The Wall Street Journal:

The mainstream appeal is cloudy, and the current market for these interactive headsets is smaller than any the company has entered in the past decade.

Yet Apple has a proven playbook for entering new product categories with a more polished version, expanding the whole market in the process.

“You dum-dum! iPods, iPhones, even the MacBook Air, all solved real problems. Mixed-reality headsets solve nothing!” I hear you, which is why I bring up the Apple Watch.

Just watch the 2014 introduction of the wearable. It’s pretty clear Tim Cook and team didn’t know what people would use the device for, other than to tell time.

The Apple Watch shipped anyway. But it took about four generations to land on a genuinely worthwhile purpose: health and fitness.

The headset stands to benefit from this if-you-build-it-they-will-come approach.

No one should expect Apple’s headset to be laser-focused on precisely the right things as launch:

“Tim is not a product person.” – Steve Jobs

Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!

Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.

The post Get ready for one of Apple’s most unconventional product introductions – ever appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Pump the brakes GM, you’re not going to win the CarPlay fight

tigaman webdesign — Tue, 09 May 2023 10:30:00 +0000

Macworld

After GM’s announcement that its electric fleet would not support CarPlay, the company has some real CurrentC energy.

You’ll forget all about the system you prefer!

“GM thinks it can wean you off Apple CarPlay and Android Auto”

Car shoppers told the Detroit Free Press that the move was “a dealbreaker” and a “huge blunder.” Auto analysts were left scratching their heads, noting that demand for CarPlay and Android Auto was “massive” and that GM was taking a huge risk by cutting off access.

It’s baffling! Short-sighted! Pure hubris!

But let’s allow a guy with a title that absolutely screams “fantastic user experience” get in a word.

But Scott Miller, vice president of software defined vehicle and operating systems at General Motors…

What does that even mean? The Macalope had to look it up to make sure The Verge hadn’t taken any poetic license but, nope! That’s his real title. Hmm, maybe his LinkedIn about statement will help.

Transforming GM from an automaker to a platform innovator, one day at a time.

Nope! No help there.

ANY-way, this guy…

…thinks that demand [for CarPlay] is a just sign that customers are still seeking an even better experience when getting in their cars.

“Your love of the sweet taste of rich, creamery butter just means you’re dying for our new product ‘Better Than Butter’. Made from a new liquid polymer, ‘Better Than Butter’ is… Where are you going?”

Meanwhile, over at Ford: [unrelenting peals of laughter]

Ford CEO Jim Farley told The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern that unlike some of its competitors, his company would be sticking with CarPlay, thank you very much. Needless to say, he doesn’t think much of GM’s decision.

”Yeah, how about that?” [laughs]

It is funny!

This isn’t exactly the first time Farley has had… let’s just say “opinions” about GM.

“F—- GM. I hate them and their company and what they stand for.”

Oh. Wow. Okay. He also didn’t have a great outlook on Tesla’s fortunes, stopping short of using any four-letter words to describe Elon Musk’s stewardship of the brand.

”…there’s no doubt about it, the demand for Tesla is changing and in some sense is deteriorating.”

While Farley is happy to work with Apple and Google, he hasn’t completely ceded the Ford user experience to them.

”There’s going to be a lot more going on inside your car than a phone.”

“Hey, hey, there’s a lot of data to hoover up! We can share!”

Unlike GM, Ford seems to have gotten the memo on these new “smartphones” all the kids are carrying around these days, much like you and I used to strap an abacus to our chests back in the day in case we ever needed to add more than three numbers together while we were out in the fields hoeing and tilling and, ugh, the reaping. So much reaping.

“The interior has to be really well done. But in terms of content? We kind of lost that battle 10 years ago. So get real with it, because you’re not going to make a ton of money on content inside the vehicle.”

Farley considers Apple and Google’s role to be solely in the “content” (blech) space within Ford autos. But he’s happy to have them along for the ride. He’s got good reason to want to CarPlay, anyway.

”70 percent of our Ford customers in the US are Apple customers. Why would I go to an Apple customer and say ‘Good luck!’ That, like, doesn’t seem customer centric.”

Right? There are probably a lot of people who don’t care or don’t understand what CarPlay is and will just take whatever system their preferred vehicle ships with. You know, the kind of people who buy those Calvin peeing stickers in bulk.

IDG

But… there are a lot who really do care. A lot. And for the people who prefer CarPlay, like this mythical beast, GM cars are now completely out of consideration.

And for what? Does GM really think it’s going to be able to sell people “content” (hurg)? Who is thinking “Boy, you know, I pay for Apple One on my Apple devices but what I really want to do is pay again for content in my car. And, ideally, the user experience should be worse!”?

Because, c’mon, Scott, get real. It’s gonna be worse.

There are two kinds of people who will choose to get their content from a car manufacturer inside the car: people who are rich enough to pay for it from both Apple/Google/Amazon and the car manufacturer and not have it materially impact their bottom line and long haul truckers who essentially live inside their cabin. Basically, anyone who’s gone to the bathroom inside their vehicle, yeah, that person might be willing to pay an automaker for music.

Check with actual human people and you will find that most of them spend way more time looking at their smartphones than driving their cars. (A lot of them are so hooked on their smartphones that they can’t even put them down while driving their car, but that’s another problem.) They like their smartphones. A lot. Making them learn another system for the small part of the day they’re in their cars is an uphill battle.

Well, good luck to you, GM! You’re gonna need it.

iOS

Ford will stick with CarPlay as GM exits for Google tech

tigaman webdesign — Wed, 03 May 2023 18:55:47 +0000

As General Motors plans to phase out CarPlay for its infotainment system, Ford won’t so it doesn’t risk losing Apple customers.

Ford will continue to stick with Apple’s CarPlay

In an interview with Joanna Stern of The Wall Street Journal, Ford CEO Jim Farley spoke about the state of built-in infotainment systems in modern vehicles. He mentioned rivals Tesla and GM and how the companies’ decisions affect customers.

Ford will stick with CarPlay as GM exits for Google tech

tigaman webdesign — Wed, 03 May 2023 18:55:47 +0000

As General Motors plans to phase out CarPlay for its infotainment system, Ford won’t so it doesn’t risk losing Apple customers.

Ford will continue to stick with Apple’s CarPlay

Ford will stick with CarPlay as GM exits for Google tech

tigaman webdesign — Wed, 03 May 2023 18:55:47 +0000

As General Motors plans to phase out CarPlay for its infotainment system, Ford won’t so it doesn’t risk losing Apple customers.

Ford will continue to stick with Apple’s CarPlay

Ford Plans to Stick With CarPlay as GM Moves to Phase Out Support

tigaman webdesign — Wed, 03 May 2023 18:14:49 +0000

Ford CEO Jim Farley said that Ford has no plans to drop support for CarPlay due to its popularity with Ford customers. He made the comment in an interview with The Wall Street Journal‘s Joanna Stern.

“70 percent of our Ford customers in the U.S. are Apple customers. Why would I go to an Apple customer and say good luck?” he said.

Farley was commenting on car manufacturers that do not support ‌CarPlay‌, like Tesla and General Motors. Tesla has never added ‌CarPlay‌ support into its vehicles, and GM earlier this year announced plans to phase out support for both ‌CarPlay‌ and Android Auto starting in 2023.

Ford CEO @jimfarley98 says he’s sticking with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and his reason makes A LOT of sense https://t.co/0ZEvV5icyD

— Joanna Stern (@JoannaStern) May 3, 2023

GM plans go with a built-in infotainment system co-developed with Google as it transitions from combustion vehicles to electric vehicles. ‌CarPlay‌ will be available in non-electric models, but GM ultimately has plans to switch to an all-electric lineup by 2035.

iPhone users have been asking Tesla to support ‌CarPlay‌ for years, and unsurprisingly, GM’s announcement has not been particularly popular with those who are in the Apple ecosystem. By removing control of the infotainment system from Apple, GM and Tesla have access to more data about their customers, and can also push vehicle-related digital subscription services.

Farley doesn’t think there’s money to be made in the content that car owners consume in their vehicles, with Ford instead focusing on safety, security, autonomy, and productivity features.

In terms of content, we kind of lost that battle 10 years ago. So like get real with it, because you’re not going to make a ton of money on content inside the vehicle. It’s gonna be safety, security, partial autonomy, and productivity in our eyes. So that relationship for content is between you, The Wall Street Journal, and the customer. I don’t want to get in the middle of that, but Tesla and other companies believe differently. They want to have complete control over the interior experience.

Having a familiar navigation and infotainment system in the car is appealing to customers who don’t want to have to transition between two incompatible software setups, so GM’s decision to drop support for ‌CarPlay‌ and Android Auto will be off-putting to those who have become used to the way that in-car solutions from Apple and Google extend the smartphone experience to the vehicle. No ‌CarPlay‌ will be a dealbreaker for some customers, so it will be interesting to see how GM’s transition affects future vehicle sales.

Starting in 2023, Apple plans to roll out a next-generation CarPlay experience that will offer even deeper integration into new vehicles for manufacturers who choose to continue to offer ‌CarPlay‌ as an option.

Related Roundup: CarPlay

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