4 ms·

Who's the market for this? Professionals and Consumers may need an iPhone, Macbook, a super luxury display, but VR Glasses? Neither as a professional nor as a c

by siva7 3y ago

Who's the market for this? Professionals and Consumers may need an iPhone, Macbook, a super luxury display, but VR Glasses? Neither as a professional nor as a consumer can i think of a reason to use this. No killer app so far besides video games. The biggest pain point for me is that i don't want to be immersed in a virtual world - even when the killer app finally sees the day of light.

jsheard 3y ago
> No killer app so far besides video games. Even that's questionable from a business perspective, most companies which took a stab at VR gaming have already given up, except for Meta, who are still losing billions every quarter to keep Reality Labs limping along. If gaming is consumer VRs killer app, and not even that is sustainable after a decade, what hope does anything else have?
- sigmoid10 3y ago
  Valve is making tons of money with the Index. It used to be at the top of Steam charts for a really long time, literally outselling most AAA games. Today it's still in the list [1], albeit a bit lower. But still impressive, considering it costs 20-30x of the average game on that list. And it used to be much more expensive back when it was at the top. [1] https://store.steampowered.com/search/?l=english&filter=topsellers https://store.steampowered.com/search/?l=english&filter=tops...
  - jsheard 3y ago
    > But still impressive, considering it costs 20-30x of the average game on that list. The Steam top sellers list is ordered by revenue, not units sold, so each Index they sell is worth 20-30x of a game sale in the rankings. Hence why Counter Strike 2 is the #2 "top seller" despite ostensibly being free - it's counting revenue. > And it used to be much more expensive back when it was at the top. The price actually hasn't moved at all, the full Index kit still costs the same $999 it launched at in 2019. The cheaper SKU on the charts is just the headset without the controllers or base stations, which they only started offering relatively recently, but you still need to have controllers and base stations to use it. The headset alone being as high as it is implies that most of the people still buying Index hardware are existing Index/Vive owners who want to renew or upgrade their existing Lighthouse setup, and few are investing in a complete brand new Index setup today.
    - sigmoid10 3y ago
      That doesn't change anything? If you can sell something for 30x the price of a game while only selling 1/20th of the units, you still beat all big studios in terms of revenue. And the index was literally in the top 10 for, like, several years, with everything included at ~$1k.
codetrotter 3y ago
My dream is to have VR goggles that I can wear outside so that I can do my wfh job while going for a walk at the beach. However, I think it is unlikely to actually be possible to do so productively even with Vision Pro. And I’m not about to drop three and a half k units of money or however much exactly the Vision Pro costs, unless I could know for a fact that it would work for that.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- burutthrow1234 3y ago
  How would that even work? Are you looking at your surroundings or your work? It sounds like a nightmare version of people staring down at their phones while shuffling down the street.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - codetrotter 3y ago
    Floating windows overlaid over surroundings
    - thunky 3y ago
      Just bring a book.
Ekaros 3y ago
Also my personal feeling is that Apple is not exactly in this type of gaming. A games on phones and tablets yes, but those playing other experiences are already in other ecosystems be it one of the consoles or PC in general...
bbarn 3y ago
The market is CEOs who casually leave it unused on display in their offices.
SamuelAdams 3y ago
I said it before and I’ll say it again. The killer app is home decoration. Repaint your wall in a snap. Change the look of your rugs, your pictures, your wall art. Have fancy place mats for dinner, all for the cost of downloading some new skin virtually. If you and your spouse cannot decide on a paint color, good news, you no longer have to! Customize it to each user and you both see exactly what you like. If you rent and live in a white wall apartment, can’t put holes in walls for pictures, etc, then good news. Just decorate things virtually. Prices will need to come down for VR headsets, and the headsets themselves will need to be wearable for 14 hours a day. So there is still a long way ahead as far as hardware capabilities go. However this software could be created today.
- morsch 3y ago
  Why stop at home decoration? Don't like the way you look? Just change the picture looking back at you in the mirror. Don't like the the new haircut your spouse got? Hair length is just one of many adjustable parameters! Want to eat steak every day? Just have the headset render your lunch slop as a ribeye!
  - codetrotter 3y ago
    > Want to eat steak every day? Just have the headset render your lunch slop as a ribeye! Big Tech: We hear ya! Our new food AR system is always on. Every meal you eat we will prompt you for what appearance to give your food. Different tiers have different micro transaction prices. Of course there is also a free tier. The free tier will render all food as potatoes. Rendering as meat will start at $5/meal. And there is no limit on how fancy we can make the rendering. Nor how much we will charge you for those fancy renderings. Can’t afford it? Enjoy seeing nothing but potatoes for every meal.
  - red-iron-pine 3y ago
    but I can just take a selfie / mirror selfie, and edit it on my phone or laptop. don't need to wear expensive-as-hell VR headsets that give me vertigo, and I can do all of the same things effectively in real time, anyway. non-starter of an idea IMO
IggleSniggle 3y ago
I don't want this exact thing, but I do want something similar. A device where I can wander anywhere around my property with keyboard slung on my shoulder and just plop down and work, with as many monitors as I want, no mouse required. I'd like a lighter, more breathable version of this.
- Shawnj2 3y ago
  The current tech isn’t there yet but it could be fantastic for travel when it becomes feasible.
boogieknite 3y ago
I don't think of it as a single killer app but almost all my clients do is inspect and measure different things in places then managers click on a point on a map related to their measurement to compile reports. They certainly want multiple reports viewable in space in front of them pointing to where in the map they connect to. When I think of the AVP as an expensive, overqualified dev kit for prototyping those types of cases it makes a perfect sense to me. Now when something wearable for normal people comes around those types of apps will already exist. It's a longshot but if it were also ruggedized I think it would greatly improve the data collection part too. Not too difficult to think of indoor data collection and form completion an AVP could aid. How most of the marketing hasnt emphasized games is refreshing. I've played a lot of VR games and very few feel like toys in the way I like video games to feel. I agree that I don't really look for full world immersion but I use my AVP all the time beyond a dev kit just for a big screen while working on the weekend in my living room etc. Really only use immersive environments partially to put a background behind my work screen.

by siva7 3y ago

jsheard 3y ago

> No killer app so far besides video games. Even that's questionable from a business perspective, most companies which took a stab at VR gaming have already given up, except for Meta, who are still losing billions every quarter to keep Reality Labs limping along. If gaming is consumer VRs killer app, and not even that is sustainable after a decade, what hope does anything else have?

sigmoid10 3y ago
Valve is making tons of money with the Index. It used to be at the top of Steam charts for a really long time, literally outselling most AAA games. Today it's still in the list [1], albeit a bit lower. But still impressive, considering it costs 20-30x of the average game on that list. And it used to be much more expensive back when it was at the top. [1] https://store.steampowered.com/search/?l=english&filter=topsellers https://store.steampowered.com/search/?l=english&filter=tops...
- jsheard 3y ago
  > But still impressive, considering it costs 20-30x of the average game on that list. The Steam top sellers list is ordered by revenue, not units sold, so each Index they sell is worth 20-30x of a game sale in the rankings. Hence why Counter Strike 2 is the #2 "top seller" despite ostensibly being free - it's counting revenue. > And it used to be much more expensive back when it was at the top. The price actually hasn't moved at all, the full Index kit still costs the same $999 it launched at in 2019. The cheaper SKU on the charts is just the headset without the controllers or base stations, which they only started offering relatively recently, but you still need to have controllers and base stations to use it. The headset alone being as high as it is implies that most of the people still buying Index hardware are existing Index/Vive owners who want to renew or upgrade their existing Lighthouse setup, and few are investing in a complete brand new Index setup today.
  - sigmoid10 3y ago
    That doesn't change anything? If you can sell something for 30x the price of a game while only selling 1/20th of the units, you still beat all big studios in terms of revenue. And the index was literally in the top 10 for, like, several years, with everything included at ~$1k.

codetrotter 3y ago

My dream is to have VR goggles that I can wear outside so that I can do my wfh job while going for a walk at the beach. However, I think it is unlikely to actually be possible to do so productively even with Vision Pro. And I’m not about to drop three and a half k units of money or however much exactly the Vision Pro costs, unless I could know for a fact that it would work for that.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
burutthrow1234 3y ago
How would that even work? Are you looking at your surroundings or your work? It sounds like a nightmare version of people staring down at their phones while shuffling down the street.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- codetrotter 3y ago
  Floating windows overlaid over surroundings
  - thunky 3y ago
    Just bring a book.

Ekaros 3y ago

Also my personal feeling is that Apple is not exactly in this type of gaming. A games on phones and tablets yes, but those playing other experiences are already in other ecosystems be it one of the consoles or PC in general...

bbarn 3y ago

The market is CEOs who casually leave it unused on display in their offices.

SamuelAdams 3y ago

I said it before and I’ll say it again. The killer app is home decoration. Repaint your wall in a snap. Change the look of your rugs, your pictures, your wall art. Have fancy place mats for dinner, all for the cost of downloading some new skin virtually. If you and your spouse cannot decide on a paint color, good news, you no longer have to! Customize it to each user and you both see exactly what you like. If you rent and live in a white wall apartment, can’t put holes in walls for pictures, etc, then good news. Just decorate things virtually. Prices will need to come down for VR headsets, and the headsets themselves will need to be wearable for 14 hours a day. So there is still a long way ahead as far as hardware capabilities go. However this software could be created today.

morsch 3y ago
Why stop at home decoration? Don't like the way you look? Just change the picture looking back at you in the mirror. Don't like the the new haircut your spouse got? Hair length is just one of many adjustable parameters! Want to eat steak every day? Just have the headset render your lunch slop as a ribeye!
- codetrotter 3y ago
  > Want to eat steak every day? Just have the headset render your lunch slop as a ribeye! Big Tech: We hear ya! Our new food AR system is always on. Every meal you eat we will prompt you for what appearance to give your food. Different tiers have different micro transaction prices. Of course there is also a free tier. The free tier will render all food as potatoes. Rendering as meat will start at $5/meal. And there is no limit on how fancy we can make the rendering. Nor how much we will charge you for those fancy renderings. Can’t afford it? Enjoy seeing nothing but potatoes for every meal.
- red-iron-pine 3y ago
  but I can just take a selfie / mirror selfie, and edit it on my phone or laptop. don't need to wear expensive-as-hell VR headsets that give me vertigo, and I can do all of the same things effectively in real time, anyway. non-starter of an idea IMO

IggleSniggle 3y ago

I don't want this exact thing, but I do want something similar. A device where I can wander anywhere around my property with keyboard slung on my shoulder and just plop down and work, with as many monitors as I want, no mouse required. I'd like a lighter, more breathable version of this.

Shawnj2 3y ago
The current tech isn’t there yet but it could be fantastic for travel when it becomes feasible.

boogieknite 3y ago

I don't think of it as a single killer app but almost all my clients do is inspect and measure different things in places then managers click on a point on a map related to their measurement to compile reports. They certainly want multiple reports viewable in space in front of them pointing to where in the map they connect to. When I think of the AVP as an expensive, overqualified dev kit for prototyping those types of cases it makes a perfect sense to me. Now when something wearable for normal people comes around those types of apps will already exist. It's a longshot but if it were also ruggedized I think it would greatly improve the data collection part too. Not too difficult to think of indoor data collection and form completion an AVP could aid. How most of the marketing hasnt emphasized games is refreshing. I've played a lot of VR games and very few feel like toys in the way I like video games to feel. I agree that I don't really look for full world immersion but I use my AVP all the time beyond a dev kit just for a big screen while working on the weekend in my living room etc. Really only use immersive environments partially to put a background behind my work screen.