https://www.bloomberg.com/news/news...res-top-100-meeting-watch-like-start-lfpgdgdb
So this dropped, and we don't know if what was demoed to the top 100 Executives is what's going to be shown at WWDC in June, however, if it is than some of this news is rather peculiar.
Basically, the article implies that the Executives were impressed with what Apple showed, but were not sure people would know how to apply this into their daily tech lives, and not just that, but not sure Apple could message what benefit the VR headset will/would provide to consumers.
The article also implies that based on the demos the Executives saw, (we don't know if that demo was the final or near the final version or not) that the headset may actually be rushing out without having a solid foundation in place, which would be ironic if what was demoed will end up being shown in June, because many companies have recently reacted already to "beat" Apple to in the VR space by rushing their OWN headsets, or plans forward.
Also based on the demo shown, there's an assumption the headset will be launching without a killer app, though I'm sure there's one or two pieces of software they are going to push hard when the June WWDC presentation happens, but the Executives either didn't see them at the demonstration, or did see their software and concluded none of them had the potential for being a killer app.
Then there's this new info about an external battery that doesn't need to be charged every two hours, but the wording here is it may need to be "
replaced" every two hours which is worse. But this seems strange to me unless they are using actual Duracell-style batteries for the headset, which would just be completely out of touch. I'm assuming that there's an error here and that they meant that in standalone mode you only have about 2-3 hours of battery life before needing to charge. Which would be much less completely insane, and make a lot more sense.
Despite this the estimated $3000 price has been reconfirmed, and Apple still expects to sell at least
1 million mixed-reality headsets in its first year. There's also still the expectation that Apple will become the market leader in the VR space given the current poor perception of the VR market.
I guess how this will ultimately end up working out will depend on if what the Executives saw at the secret meeting, was the final version that's going to be shown to us consumers in June or not. They were impressed with what they saw, but the flaws being reported here, and executives being skeptical if Apple has messaging to get people to buy it, makes me wonder if they were shown something that was the final, or close to the final version. I doubt Tim Cook, who reportedly ignored his design team to join the operations lead in pushing out the headset this year for his legacy, wants to retire from Apple with a rushed product with poor messaging as that would but a stain on his legacy. Although, Timmy boy has made some odd decisions here and there.
One other thing I noticed is they say Apple will likely not make much if any profits on the headset because of the components costs, but there's no way the components are that far ahead and that expensive. I speculate the most likely reason for Apple not making profits, is that the $3000 is likely going to be subsidized by carriers and retailers for monthly payments, which may also have upgrade plans, and people paying monthly may not be paying the full $3000 in the end, so Apple is taking those losses into account. If the components really are that expensive, than I expect that we will be amazed at the final specs on this thing.
