The Apple Vision Pro Brings Back the AR Buzzword But is it Ready for the Spotlight?
With all the hoopla around the Apple Vision Pro, AR has become a buzzword yet again. But what is it, and is the world ready?
Augmented Reality has, yet again, entered the public consciousness. With the announcement of Apple’s Vision Pro, the Immersive Technology for the American Workforce Act being drafted and reproposed in America, and current estimates of the ‘metaverse’ market size being worth almost a trillion dollars by 2030, it’s easy to understand why.
But what is Augmented Reality? Why is it important? And how does it, and how will it, affect the industries of the future?
What is it?
Augmented reality (AR) is the technology that describes the interaction between a virtual world and the real world, which results in an augmented overlay that can be applied to a real time view.
This can be computer generated images and models, as in the case of Pokemon Go:
Wayfinding, as in the case of the Gatwick Airport App:
Or highlights of real world information, as in the case of Accuvein:
How is it being used now?
In addition to the examples above, the industries using augmented reality now are wide, and varied. Examples include windshields in cars, which visualises information such as speed, distance, and travel directions; IKEA’s room planner, which allows you to virtually place Ikea furniture into a room; and the Dulux visualizer app.
Architectural agencies, game development companies, medical institutions, data analysis firms, even military outlets — they’re all looking to software development and hardware manufacturing to guide them on how to implement their solutions, and in some cases even what they want or how to deploy their solutions in a market that has very few dedicated devices.
Why should we care?
Information is more important now than ever before and access to that information is even more vital. The ease at which you can take data from the real world and provide it to the user in a readable, understandable format, without interpolation, speeds the ability to interpret that information into usable and actionable steps.
As an industry, the rise of different digital solutions has increased with the consolidation of manufacturers, eCommerce, branding, and consumer bases. The more universal a solution is, the larger the adoption base — and the functionality and creativity on offer with AR products improves the capabilities of its user base.
A more recently relevant development in our industry, specifically, is perfectly suited to AR. What is possible when combining Augmented Reality with Artificial Intelligence is unprecedented. Machine Vision, Eye Tracking, Natural Language processing systems… these are all aspects of AI development that are most directly connected to making intelligent, adaptable, convincing Augmented Reality applications. They are the aspects to recognise and identify images and objects, track where your focus lies, and interpreting human instructions in a fastidious manner.
With AR, we can provide information to the user without the filter required to interpolate the data. Combine these fields with predictive analytics, and you could even start to pre-empt certain actions, educate during on-premises introductions, and automate a variety of interactions.
Is it important right now?
The future is bright — but is the world quite ready for it just yet?
Google Glass when it dropped was revolutionary and game changing…but the world just wasn’t quite ready. And with the price of an Apple Vision Pro sitting at about $3499, with the UK/EU price based on history likely to match, is it worth it for the average consumer?
To answer this question, I ask the same one prompted by Google Glass when it launched a decade ago — who is this for? Is this for the average consumer? Is it worth spending this vast quantity of wealth for a product that is at a similar price point of a high end PC and all it’s peripherals, with enough left over for a low end VR headset?
For those who can afford it, does it address a true problem in their lives?
Apple has form in bringing products of this type to market, even going so far as to brand their own peripherals ‘magic’. In fact, the original pioneer of the Oculus, the company that pioneered VR and the current market interest in VR, Palmer Luckey, recently stated in a tweet that Apple’s headset is ‘so good’ — a ringing endorsement.
This headset should not be taken as a mass production device, as it’s estimated a 2nd generation device (predicted in 2025) will ship 10 times the numbers this initial run ships, based on previous hardware release patterns. If true, that makes this the Oculus DK1 to the current Meta Quest — the most dedicated will buy the first iteration, which will be relatively few, but that should invigorate the developer ecosystem enough to have quality software products for the next release.
Whether you care about Apple or not, the AR and VR industry need to take this release pretty seriously. We underestimate the validation and security that Apple entering the AR landscape presents — if it exceeds expectations, this paves the way for a transformative investment trend in the industry, as other manufacturers jump on the bandwagon. This could be the AR version of the iPhone.
However…the only thing worse for an industry than Apple ignoring it is Apple failing to enter it. The attitude of ‘If Apple can’t do it, with all its resources and capabilities, why should we?’ would be the resounding response from other developers.
As it stands, it remains to be seen if this new generation of Augmented Reality truly is ready for centre-stage. No matter what, Apple’s announcement is a pivotal step, as the pressure of Apple is practically a tangible element —this is the good side of a competitive landscape. To Meta, Valve, Pimax, StarVR, Vive, Samsung and other hardware manufacturers, competition has arrived, and it’s arrived with a heavy hand.
Aaron Williams is a Platform Engineer at Version 1
