Meta is trying down the highway at a follow-up to the Quest 3, which is releasing this week, and plans to take cues from Apple’s Imaginative and prescient Professional whereas it races to mainstream its VR tech. That’s according to Mark Gurman in at this time’s Energy On e-newsletter for Bloomberg, who writes that the corporate’s Quest headset advertising and marketing plans have modified in response to Apple’s Imaginative and prescient Professional announcement earlier this 12 months. A part of the plan is to launch a VR headset with out controllers to get the price down subsequent 12 months.
Gurman says an individual inside Meta instructed him the corporate is “within the ‘afraid of Apple’ stage,” evaluating it to the cell phone business simply earlier than the iPhone’s launch. He writes that the corporate’s shift away from a heavy concentrate on the metaverse and extra to pushing the sensible makes use of of the headset — gaming and productiveness — is a direct response to Apple’s pitch for the Imaginative and prescient Professional. You would argue that Apple’s headset is extra down-to-Earth than immersive digital worlds, even when its worth could be very a lot not.
Meta’s roadmap has concerned making its subsequent headset, codenamed Ventura, even cheaper — The Quest 3 is already lower than 15 p.c the price of a Imaginative and prescient Professional — and extra comfy with out sacrificing display decision. And apparently, in line with Gurman, Meta can be taking a look at getting rid of controller bundling to assist with that, letting clients both simply use hand gestures or purchase controllers individually.
Apple and Meta are finally after completely different markets, however in the meanwhile, the prevailing VR headset market is just about simply “individuals who need VR headsets” — you recognize, early adopters. Meta is attempting to determine how issues will shake out when the market truly grows, and to plant a foot in it, the corporate wants a unique product, or it dangers the Quest going the best way of characteristic telephones.
