from Hacker News

Isn’t That Spatial?

by langitbiru on 6/10/23, 9:56 AM with 14 comments

  • by newaccount74 on 6/10/23, 12:12 PM

    While the situations Apple showed in the Keynote were cringeworthy and unrealistic, I don't think Apple Vision is a dead end. On the contrary, for the first time I see a use case for a VR/AR headset: it's a tool for knowledge workers.

    Some people manage to get all their work done on nothing but an iPad or a tiny netbook. They can keep everything they are working on in their head.

    I struggle with this. I work best when I am surrounded by my work. Notes on a desk, a design outline on a whiteboard, the website open on my laptop, the code on a different screen, facetime on my iPhone... I'm way more productive when my work is spatially arranged around me, instead of stacked in browser tabs.

    Of course, that requires lots of screens and devices, and a big dedicated space. Apple Vision looks like it could allow me to work like that when I'm not in my office.

    I don't really worry what I look like when I work. Sure, the headset looks stupid, but so does my respirator when I'm in the workshop spraying something.

  • by specialist on 6/10/23, 1:59 PM

    I've been a big fan of Prof Galloway. He's a long time VR skeptic.

    I am too, FWIW.

    Methinks Apple is working towards AR. Stuff like Google Glasses, heads up displays, fancy visual overlay apps with iPhone's cameras.

    Augmented reality is The Correct Answer™. Some day.

    Meanwhile...

    First gen Vision Pro 2023 should be more way expensive (+$10,000), with a modest 10k units sold annually. Initial customers are the usual suspects: researchers, education, entertainment, technophiles.

    Just get Vision Pro out there, see how it goes, see what people do with it.

    The ultimate flag ship product. Like their Studio Display.

    Then over the next 5-10 years, zero in on product-market fit. Buying plenty of time for Apple to ramp up their own MicroLED production. Plenty of time for compelling apps to seed the market.

  • by EarthLaunch on 6/10/23, 12:32 PM

    I read up until this:

    > Two grand a year rivals the lease payments on an entry-level car.

    So I can lease a very crappy car or own an awesome headset? Easy choice.

    > Back at HQ, the iPhone, possibly the most utile product in history, costs $1,000 and is viable for three-plus years.

    2 years max if your phone is important to you. Why 3 years for the phone but not the headset?

    > Splurging on an 85-inch 4K flat-screen TV will cost you $1,500, but it will last about seven years,

    And be incredibly less useful by every single measure. Who even watches TV?

    > and your entire family gets to watch at the same time.

    Great, I'll have my nonexistent kids invite the grandkids. What a money saver while we consume Netflix instead of doing something interesting.

    Anyway, point is it's being deliberately biased.

  • by jgalt212 on 6/10/23, 12:13 PM

    > standard issue coder’s laptop

    Why do all the coder's have Macs when the server code they write will run on Linux (most likely) and client code will run on Windows (most likely)?