There is virtually no market for a $3,500 headset made by Meta. These demos don't seem like things that can't do at all, just things they can't do affordably. What can be done in a $500 consumer device will only increase each year. It is probably smart for Meta to keep slow and steady.
The price of that $3500 headset will also drop each year.
Let’s say it takes five years for Apple or Meta to be able to release this kind of hardware at $500.
Would you rather bet on the company with 5 years experience selling that class of hardware and software and finding real use cases? Or the one who is leaving the lab with it for the first time?
Ignoring Apple is a supply chain MONSTER that can get things cheaper and better than Meta can thanks to their volumes so the products might not be comparable at $500.
I would not count on immediate price drops. Typically cheaper devices like iBook or iPhone SE were years down the line.
Apple picks a price point and sticks to it (first generation iPhone was a one-off). People with too much money pay for early development on exclusive feature poor devices. As the technology becomes more functional inflation drops prices into affordable ranges.
Given the tolerances needed for head mounted quality and comfort Apple will never have a comparable cheap model. Meta has the edge here and will have Android levels of market share while Apple has Apple shares of profit.
I meant that only as a thought exercise. I agree with you about Apple cutting prices directly. While I think they’ll drop the price eventually on the Pro, maybe to start at $2000-$2500, it will be a few years.
When the more consumer oriented model comes (assuming things are successful) it will slot in at a lower price point, say $1000. But the Pro will still be up there.
I trust they’ll get to $500 or less (again, assuming success), but it’s going to take a long time. However Apple is the company that with their suppliers can design/make ultra high precision stuff and ship it in mass at prices that wouldn’t otherwise be possible.
Meta in market share: that I question. I don’t think these products compete (AR vs VR, not just price). Even if Apple becomes extremely successful I’m not sure VR demand will take off. And if someone tries to make a much cheaper AR I’d be concerned the experience is below the acceptable threshold. $3500 will never be mass market, but I’m not sure $500 can be good enough at current tech levels.
It’ll be a while before we start to see this play out. Could be totally wrong.
Right that's also a big problem for Meta - they can't capture the market at this price point. Who is paying that dollar level for hardware from the likes of Meta?
People do not buy multi-thousand dollar hardware&software combos from companies with unknown histories of software patches, product line commitment, warranty coverage, etc. That's why there's so few operating at those price ranges.
