Mixed Reality

I think a cheaper Meta Quest 3 would really help the MR space. I mean, the most sold headset right now is the Quest 2, that got there with big discounts, being priced at around $200 at some point.

The device looks like this, according to a leak:

It’s basically a Quest 3 in a Quest 2 body. And I’m all for it. A little less resolution, a little les adjustments, but still good passthrough. That’s all we need for Mixed Reality to move forward.

Oh, and we don’t know the price yet. A $250 is ok, $300 would still be acceptable and $200 would be crazy. If they announce it soon and then they launch it October, Christmas will see millions (if not tens of millions) of these devices activating. What an opportunity!

Yeah, the kids are alright 🤩

1 in 4 teenagers play games on headsets.

Many Quest developers report teens being their fastest-growing demographic, and Meta brings in its highest VR revenue in the holiday season of each year when children typically receive gifts like consoles from their parents.

It’s true, 24% teens playing on headsets is half of those that play on desktops and 1/3 of those that play on consoles.

But we got to start somewhere, right?

I’ve just found an interesting article on the Apple Vision Pro.

This is quite a fair, balanced view on the device. And it compares the first year of sales to the first year of iPhone sales:

But when people look back, they never cite the iPhone’s first year of sales, which according to Statista only amounted to around 1.4 million units. Sure, that’s more than 400,000, but that was also for a significantly less expensive device and a drop in the bucket compared to the HUNDREDS of millions Apple has been selling more recently. Those figures were meaningless.

I didn’t know iPhone only sold 1.4 million in the first year, but I’m not surprised. I remember the first iPhone (a friend bought it from the States, since it wasn’t available in Romania). I was shocked when I saw the browser scroll being so fluid and I only had another similar tech experience recently (and it lead to me starting a new company).

But, transcendent experience aside, it was a bad phone. And not a global offered device to begin with. And now? I wouldn’t change my iPhone 15 Pro Max for any other phone (maybe an iPhone 15 Pro Mini, if it existed).

I’m really bullish on the mixed reality/spatial computing devices and this article just confirms my own bias, so take it with a grain of salt. But keep believing anyway.

via X/Twitter (@SkarredGhost)

I feel that multiplayer in VR/MR is more fun. Especially with friends.

It feels a little bit more engaging. Probably because it’s more movement based, I don’t know.

Even when I play poker with friends it’s fun in VR, because we can throw chips at each other, we can move around and act stupid.

I don’t know, it’s more fun!

I liked the first 2 seasons of “What If…” (the first more than the second), so I’m excited to see the Apple Vision Pro exclusive “What If…” episode (or interactive story, whatever they call it).

Disney/Marvel said it’s gonna be an hour long (as opposed to the 30 minutes long episodes in the first 2 seasons) and you’re gonna be able to influence the story in some way.

What If…? – An Immersive Story is the next evolution in how we tell our stories, where fans across generations can experience them and live out the adventure alongside their favorite heroes,” director and executive producer Dave Bushore said. “This experience kicks the door open to the Marvel Universe, and it’s a glimpse of what I’ve been waiting for my whole life.”

What If…? reimagines events from across the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in unexpected ways.

Now, fans have been chosen to step into the leading role of an all-new immersive story that transforms the space around them as they traverse across realities. Throughout their journey, they will come face-to-face with Multiversal variants of their favorite characters, learn the mystic arts, and be tasked with harnessing the power of the Infinity Stones.

Read more here.

I’m pretty bullish on Mixed Reality being the future of computing and how we’ll interact with our devices in future (including our phone). I’m not just saying, as you might see soon enough…

A friend showed me A16Z’s newsletter with the 5 VR trends they noticed. A16Z also considered crypto the tech of the future and it didn’t pan out (yet), so you shouldn’t believe everything they say. But I’m convinced there’s something happening in the eXtended Reality space.

Here are the trends they mention and my opinion on them:

1. Both Hardware and Software Will Become More Inviting

I agree with this. I think we’ll have glasses soon enough (3-5 years) . Even if it’s a device connected to your phone (like an Apple Watch). The battery is the biggest issue so you can’t put all the processing power in glasses for the moment.

2. The Roblox Generation Is Coming

The friend that sent me the link to this article asked me recently what should his kid use to learn coding. And I suggested Roblox. Coding, marketing, sales, you have it all. The “kids” that learned to code there are coming to every other platforms soon. With an attached audience as well. Will they come to XR? I think it’s easier for them to go to mobile devices and PC, rather than headsets, but we’ll see.

3. Smaller, Faster Devs Will Break New Ground

Oh, do I believe this? Yes, yes I do. A lot!

4. More Cross-Platform Experiences

Some games on the headsets already allow some crossplay with mobile phones. We’ll see more cross-platform development for sure.

5. VR is here to stay

If we consider VR being Mixed Reality and Augmented Reality as well, I agree.

But if you think of VR as the experience where it replaces your environment completely, I don’t think it’s gonna flourish to the level of a computing device. For that, you need the Mixed Reality devices (like Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro).

I have to say I don’t know what to make of this (article here):

Tim Cook just officially announced that more than half of Fortune 100 companies have bought at least one Apple Vision Pro headset.

Also, this:

“We see Apple Vision Pro as a tremendous value-add that will improve our fleet availability and operations,

Training our employees with spatial computing will lead to fewer costly errors because the most current information they need to do their job is there in front of them as they perform the task. This means we not only get vastly more efficient in our work, but also provide a better work environment for our employees to succeed.”

– Bob Tulleken, KLM’s vice president of Operations Decision Support

I mean, I can understand using VR in training, but I don’t see the specific value Vision Pro is bringing to the table. Maybe the training apps require a lot of processing power? But wouldn’t that make a PC and PC VR the better tool?

I mean… I’m as happy as anybody can be that more people use the Vision Pro, I just can’t see how sustainable is the business adoption of the device (especially at this price level).

Or maybe some Fortune 100 companies know more than we do and they expect a cheaper Vision sooner than we thought?

This is as big as it can be. While a duopoly between Meta and Apple on headsets wouldn’t be the best in the world, this still opens up the industry. Hopefully Google will come on board as well.

First, the company said that it will make the operating system behind the Meta Quest headsets, Meta Horizon OS, available to other companies to create third-party hardware.

It already has a handful of partners on board to make headsets, with ASUS Republic of Gamers creating “an all-new performance gaming headset,” while Lenovo designs one optimized for productivity and entertainment.

Meta also said it will create a limited-edition Meta Quest headset “inspired by Xbox,” and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg suggested in an Instagram post that one could make a VR headset bundled with an Xbox controller and Game Pass so players could play on a virtual big screen TV wherever they happened to be.

From here.