On June 7, Apple After releasing the new head display Vision Pro, augmented reality and virtual reality Some major companies in the field said that the debut of Apple Hybrid Reality Head Display was the "watershed" of the industry, and they welcomed the competition from Apple.
On Monday, Apple released the Vision Pro headworn device at the annual global developer conference. For several months, speculation that Apple would release its own virtual reality or augmented reality products finally came true.
HTC CEO Wang Xuehong In an interview, he said that Apple's move was recognition of the virtual reality and augmented reality industry. HTC turned to Vive's head display business a few years ago because of the poor situation of its smartphone business.
Wang Xuehong said, "Apple's entry into this market is a watershed for the entire industry." "This will bring greater confidence to the global virtual reality market."
But she added that there was a problem with the "closed" nature of Apple's service ecosystem. When it comes to the platforms and devices users use to access Apple services, this restriction will be greater.
Wang Xuehong believes that "Apple's iOS products and content distribution platform have always adopted a closed ecosystem, which may restrict developers from entering a new value chain. If developers are locked in an ecosystem, it is difficult for them to maximize their impact."
Apple said at the global developer conference that Vision Pro allows users to access applications in the surrounding space in a new way. Users can browse applications with eyes and gestures, and search with voice.
Users can watch movies with the Vision Pro head display, including 3D movies that support spatial audio technology, browse photos or short videos, and play games. Users can call Microsoft Office tools, Adobe Lightroom and other video conferencing applications to work.
Apple introduced that Vision Pro is equipped with the VisionOS operating system, a space computing platform developed by Apple specifically for the new head display, so developers can develop applications for the head display as they do on the iPhone. Vision Pro is scheduled to go on sale early next year, starting at $3499.
Apple also released new features such as the iPad operating system and Apple TV at the conference on Monday. In contrast, people's reaction to Apple's new head display is relatively flat.
Wang Xuehong said, "When these (hybrid reality) devices are fully integrated with 5G technology and transmit content from the cloud side computing network, the next major change will occur."
Since it is difficult for HTC's own products to win attraction in the highly competitive mobile phone market, HTC has spent many years shifting from the smart phone industry to virtual reality.
In 2018, HTC sold most of its smartphone business to Google for $1.1 billion.
For a long time, the virtual reality industry has not received much attention. Consumers mainly regard this technology as a way to play casual games, rather than a common device integrated into daily life.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has put the whole future on the so-called "meta universe" concept. People will use Meta Quest series headgear and Horizon Worlds VR Social gaming platforms access the vast virtual reality world.
However, Meta has not yet brought wide commercial attraction to its products so far. Every year, the company loses billions of dollars in investment in this technology.
Recently, the sales of head display devices in the virtual reality industry are also not good, mainly because consumers are struggling to cope with the adverse situation of sharply rising cost of living. In December last year, NPD Group, a research institution, said that in 2022, the sales of virtual reality head displays in the United States would decline by 2% year-on-year to $1.1 billion.
For a company like Apple, it is also surprising to release the head display, because Apple usually insists on waiting until a mature product is popularized among consumers before choosing to enter this industry.
Nevertheless, industry executives said that Apple's new head display was an important milestone in the mixed reality market.
Urho Konttori, chief technology officer of Varjo, headquartered in Finland, said in an email that this indicates that hybrid reality may have more feasible use cases in the enterprise field.
Cantori said: "It is an important moment for our entire industry for Apple to enter the field of hybrid reality with Vision Pro."
"Hybrid reality has become the normal equipment in the enterprise field. The innovative technology pioneered by Varjo has changed the working, training, design, research and cooperation methods of many large companies in the world."
He added: "We hope today is a turning point in the field of consumption. Hybrid reality will begin to become a part of their daily life, and will have good application prospects in entertainment, personal productivity and communication."
Leo Gebbie, analyst of CCS Insight, a market research company, said: "Although Apple's new leader will not be listed until early 2024, we expect that Vision Pro will change the space computing field thanks to Apple's design scheme and VisionOS innovation."
He added, "The field of virtual reality and augmented reality has recently experienced a period of rigorous review and questioning, but if there is a company that can use star effect to revitalize this field, it is Apple." (Chen Chen)
