ARK Invest, an investment firm led by Cathie Wood, boldly asserts that current augmented and virtual reality technology, including offerings from tech giants like $Apple (AAPL.US)$ and $Meta Platforms (META.US)$, fails to meet the mark when it comes to capturing the masses adoption.
What Happened: Earlier this week, sharing the tidbits of their internal discussions via the video series "The Brainstorm," ARK Invest Nick Grous and Sam Korus touched upon several topics, one of which was Apple's highly anticipated 2023 WWDC.
They specifically talked about the major hardware product launch Cupertino did after at least five years of silence — the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset.
In the video, Grous admitted that Apple's headset has "wowed" many reviewers and the device itself has a lot of hardware and technology built, but also pointed out that the hefty price tag of almost $3,500 could put it at a disadvantage.
Speaking further, Grous stated that he has a wager going internally that Apple would only be able to sell under a million units of Apple Vision Pro in its first year – and the primary reason behind it would be the price point. He said that it is likely that more developers would buy the product than consumers.
The analysts also discussed that the name of the device, Apple Vision Pro is called "Pro" for a reason and maybe with this device the company is going after the developers but continues to market it so consumers understand Apple's approach toward the AR/VR ecosystem.
It is pertinent to note here that previously Bloomberg columnist Mark Gurman stated that Apple is working on a cheaper version of its first-generation mixed-reality headset. It could be called Apple Vision or Apple Vision One.
Speaking about whether people actually want to buy these headsets — a question which is more important to ask rather than whether consumers are willing to pay $3,500, Grous said that to answer this question it is first important to understand if "VR ready for prime time?"
I think, there's still a long way that this market needs to go before consumers are wearing these devices for an X amount of hours a day on a regular basis," he said, adding " I don't think there's a single device that's ready and could be brought to masses"
He was making the statement with respect to all the devices present in the market currently, including Meta's Quest lineup and Apple Vision Pro.
Why It's Important: It was previously reported that while Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg doesn't think Apple's debut mixed reality headset had any "magical" technological advancements, he did say that Cupertino's entry in the AR/VR segment will give more "validation to the category."
Zuckerberg also said that considering the price of the Apple Vision Pro headset, it wouldn't be affordable to many people, which would ultimately benefit Meta and other headset-makers.
方舟投資,一家由... 領導的投資公司 凱茜伍德,大膽地斷言,當前的增強現實和虛擬現實技術,包括來自科技巨頭的產品,例如 蘋果公司 (納斯達克股票代碼:AAPL)和 元平臺公司 納斯達克股票代碼:META)在吸引大衆採用方面未能達到目標。
發生了甚麼: 本週早些時候,通過視頻系列 “頭腦風暴” 分享了他們內部討論的花絮,ARK Invest Nick Grous 和 山姆·科魯斯 談到了幾個話題,其中一個是蘋果備受期待的2023 WWDC。
他們特別談到了庫比蒂諾在沉默了至少五年之後發佈的主要硬件產品——Apple Vision Pro混合現實耳機。
另請參閱: 爲甚麼馬克·扎克伯格認爲蘋果的 Vision Pro 頭戴式耳機證實了 AR/VR 的未來
在視頻中,格魯斯承認蘋果的頭戴式耳機讓許多評論者 “讚歎不已”,而且該設備本身內置了大量硬件和技術,但也指出,近3500美元的高昂價格可能會使其處於不利地位。
格魯斯進一步表示,他內部押注蘋果在第一年只能售出不到一百萬臺的Apple Vision Pro——而其背後的主要原因將是價格點。他說,購買該產品的開發者可能多於消費者。
分析師還討論說,這款設備的名稱Apple Vision Pro被稱爲 “Pro” 是有原因的,也許該公司正在追捕開發者,但仍在繼續推銷它,以便消費者瞭解蘋果對AR/VR生態系統的態度。
這裏需要指出的是,彭博社前專欄作家 馬克·古爾曼 表示蘋果正在開發其第一代混合現實耳機的更便宜版本。它可以叫做 Apple Vision 或 Apple Vision One。
在談到人們是否真的想購買這些頭戴式耳機——這個問題比消費者是否願意支付3500美元更重要。格魯斯說,要回答這個問題,首先要了解 “虛擬現實是否爲黃金時段做好了準備?”
他說:“我認爲,在消費者每天定期佩戴這些設備X個小時之前,這個市場還有很長的路要走,” 他補充說,“我認爲沒有一款設備可以準備就緒並可以推向大衆。”
他就目前市場上存在的所有設備發表了聲明,包括Meta的Quest系列和Apple Vision Pro。
爲甚麼它很重要: 此前有報道稱,而 Meta 首席執行官 馬克·扎克伯格 他認爲蘋果的首款混合現實耳機沒有任何 “神奇的” 技術進步,他確實說庫比蒂諾進入增強現實/虛擬現實領域將爲該類別提供更多的 “驗證”。
扎克伯格還表示,考慮到Apple Vision Pro耳機的價格,許多人負擔不起,這最終將使Meta和其他頭戴式耳機制造商受益。
通過以下方式查看 Benzinga 對消費科技的更多報道 點擊這個鏈接。
繼續閱讀: 蘋果的 Vision Pro 與 Meta 的 Quest 3 相比如何?