Apple is breaking its own rules

# **Apple is breaking its own rules** **Apple’s upcoming Mixed Reality Headset has an expected price of $3,000, requires a separate battery pack and still requires further testing.* * According to *WSJ*, Apple’s plan to launch mixed reality headsets breaks some traditional rules when it comes to new technology product launches. Unlike other devices, the company only launched the test version for this event. Apple’s headset will combine both augmented reality and virtual reality into a single device. When users wear the device, they will experience the virtual world through the inner screen, while still observing the real world around thanks to the outward facing camera. People familiar with the supply chain say Apple’s mixed reality headsets will ship in bulk in the fall. Of course, the company can delay this timeline due to some limitations such as the integration of the headset with new software, production delays and market demand that is not expected. ## Breaking Tradition *WSJ *defines the “temporary” introduction of headphones to the market as opposed to Apple’s usual path, where products are in complete form at the time of launch. Additionally, the expected $3,000 price tag seems out of reach for many mainstream consumers. Besides, technology experts and analysts said that Apple will not wait any longer because competitors already have products on the market, while the company has invested a lot of money and resources in the project. this case. Since the launch of the Apple Watch in 2014, the mixed reality headset is the next new product line under CEO Tim Cook. Even so, he also faced the challenge of having the device serve primarily the metaverse, a technology that still lacked mass acceptance and understanding. Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is struggling to attract users and maintain sales of its new virtual reality headset. Meanwhile, Microsoft also shut down the virtual reality platform it bought in 2017. “Apple is at the top, while many other companies are still trying to climb that mountain. If you’re a trillion-dollar company, you have every right to wait,” said Rony Abovitz, founder and former CEO of Magic Leap. In Apple’s history, the company has defied skeptics by demonstrating that most of its products are widely accepted by the general public. As a result, some in the industry expect that Apple’s mixed reality headset will elevate the market for products that cater to metaverse technology. “For general users, virtual reality technology still lacks impactful applications. iPod has music. iPhone has a good camera and offers web browsing,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research director at IDC. ## Long Road Ahead Many in the industry think the virtual reality market still has a long way to go before it reaches its full potential. Accordingly, some of the technologies needed to be optimized take about a decade to develop, especially compact and energy-efficient hardware to fit in the form of eyeglasses. People familiar with Apple’s headphone project say mass production will begin in September. Analyst Ming-chi Kuo said shipments for 2023 are estimated at 200,000-300,000 units, a figure much smaller than the first-year output of the iPhone and Apple Watch generations. China-based assembler Luxshare has taken over the production of the device and is planning to assemble a higher-end version, which is expected to be introduced in 2025. Meanwhile, the major iPhone assembler Apple’s first is that Foxconn will produce a lower-end second-generation version. Due to the rapidity of product launch, Apple could not care much about the design, such as the device’s external battery pack that can be placed on the user’s waist. The device will also completely cover the eyes like a pair of goggles, making it impossible for the user to see their surroundings directly like when wearing a normal pair of glasses. “As an Apple product, that doesn’t make any sense to me,” said Michael Gartenberg, former senior director of global product marketing at Apple. He also said CEO Tim Cook will appeal to the mass market and enthusiasts. Some of the early ideas were for the headset to be connected wirelessly to a data station to offload complex computations, some former employees said. Jony Ive, design director at the time, opposed the product design and encouraged the team to develop an independent headset. In 2019, Kim Vorrath, Apple’s longtime chief software officer, was brought in to help shift the team’s focus to product launches. People say with Vorrath’s participation, the headset team has worked more closely to the company’s product development standards and timelines. Supporting the developer ecosystem will be key to the success or failure of the headset, as wearers will need to experience and immerse themselves in the apps.