Basic Unit of VR

Like many others, I watched the Apple annoucement of their headset. I think it's great!

The cost

I know many are balking at the cost, and I'm not sure if I think it's really all that high. You're mixing a high quality laptop, which on their site starts at 1300, and strapping on a headset. Is their VR headset worth 2k? Probably. I saw many others say they were expecting it to be around there. Either way, it is a great deal of money.

The focus.

However, there wasn't a lot of mention of actual VR experiences. There was a lot of 2D content, but in VR. Which made me, and many others, question, "What is VR good for?"

So...

Computers are tools. They are "people amplifiers". They let you express yourself in ways faster, better, etc etc. It's easier to build a bridge when the calculator is assisting you, balance a budget. But tools have places, and they have their unique strengths and weaknesses. Your desktop/laptop is very good at text. There's a reason the keyboard has been the primary input mechanism for decades. It's why spreadsheets started the computer revolution. Websites, games, software all benefitted from this text first format. Then came phones. Horrible for text input, okay for text output. But, they quickly gained their own strenths with photos and videos. The absolute explosion in the consumption and creation of pictures and videos is driven by everyone having a high quality camera in their pocket. YouTube, Instagram, TikTok would not have blown up as they have without phones.

So...what's the base unit of VR? What does VR excel at? And I think Apple is on the right track with the name 'Spatial Computing' in that the main element is you. This is a space that amplifies your movements, your gestures, and eventually your thoughts on an infinite canvas to create and express yourself. They dedicated a processor to hand and eye tracking essentially. This is a much closer step to go from brain to thing than ever before.