So I just read the news about Apple releasing their new AR/VR headset. It’s outta my price range but the features seem really cool and a lot of them I haven’t seen in other companies models (oculus etc) – however I also read that Apple has been developing this for 7+ years. We’ve seen several VR/AR headsets in the past 7 years, but none with this level of complexity. How do companies release products that are still innovative even though they’re conceived years earlier – and how do technological innovations mid-development process affect the process?
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If Apple started developing 7 years ago to release now (actually next year), headsets released 7 years ago started development 10+ years ago.
Also remember that 7 years of development does NOT mean that everything is 7 years old. The first 3-5 years could have been developing the individual cameras, lenses, screens, or designing the fit of the headset.
They have supposedly been working on it for 7 years, but they didn’t have the technology 7 years ago to release it. When they say they have been working on it for 7 years they mean just that they have been trying to figure out how to make a successful product like this for 7 years and are just now able to due to the improvements in technology they and others have developed and the reduction in costs that have occurred.
By cleverly marketing it as innovative and hoping the technical capability matches the hype.
Commercial AR has been a thing for years. The Nintendo 3DS had functioning 3D AR… In 2010.
Apple’s long standing tradition (including under Jobs, make no mistake) is to let others do the actual innovation and suffer the associated risks and costs, see what lessons they learned and what the winning formula appears to be, then release their product using the latest and most expensive technology available. And claim they’re the first ones for good measure.
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