Comment by caconym_
3 years ago
> I'm stunned they're shipping it before solving that problem
Are you really? Outside of everybody sitting on the couch watching a movie together, which will be an extremely marginal use case for this thing anyway—are you seriously going to buy all of (spouse, kids, friends) their own $3500 headset?—shared-reality seems very niche for consumer applications, which are clearly what they're targeting.
I really, honestly am!
I think without shared reality in place, the public verdict on this device will be that it's a loneliness enabler, or has you wear your loneliness on your face. Or rather, on a screen strapped to your face. It's going to be undesirable, the most damning quality of any consumer item. Nobody will envy their peers for having one.
People say this about smartphones, too, and yet adoption is practically universal. If the product is worth using, people will use it, and the social friction will fade. The reason products like Google Glass never moved beyond pariah status is that they weren't really worth using, so they were only ever used by "tech bros" who were already cultural pariahs, and who in so using outed themselves as such.
Besides which, nobody is looking into my home and calling my various screens "loneliness enablers". Not that I would give a shit if they were, though I might invest in some blinds or drapes.
A smartphone is extreme useful every day, small, light etc.
No one ever has a ring tone anymore.
The glasses are extreme expensive and they are not replacing anything.
Someone with an ipad still needs the glasses and the other way around.
You are sweating in these things.
I can eat while watching on my OLED.
And the glasses are also expensive for companies. So no typical iphone as company phone thing.
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It's about perception. None of those screen inherently prevent anyone else from sharing your experience, or outright advertise escapism as a use case.
I'm saying the "Apple goggles" can so easily fall victim this perception because those qualities are so front-and-center with it.
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