Who will be best positioned when these killer apps start coming out? Meta has like 90% headset market share, and while Apple may release something "cool" with AR it's unlikely to be a direct threat. Microsoft is cranking along with WMR and Hololens, but they aren't leading innovation or really trying to. Valve has good hardware but can't compete with Meta due to their scale and capital.
Nobody is putting money into VR like Meta. Zuck is betting the company, and I'd probably do the same in his place. FB/IG print money but growth is substantially dead and long term prospects are dim.
>Valve has good hardware but can't compete with Meta due to their scale and capital.
Valve is no startup but should capital ever be the limiting factor, venture capital should be ready to finance the expansion.
However, Valve has the Instagram problem. If people don't pay for their worlds but accept them filled with branded artifacts, then Meta has that infrastructure and Valve does not.
Apple's entrance into the advertising market could be seen as a preparation for their VR products, like their gaming platform (similar to Netflix). As Meta, I wouldn't bet that Apple just creates an AR device.
Microsoft on the other hand needs a VR headset for their Xbox because Sony has one. They are already cooperating with Meta on the business headset. To me, this suggests that MS will also cooperate with Meta on the gaming headset.
If Apple manages to sell as many headsets as they sell phones then gaming consoles are dwarfed. When all is said and done, I would love to see a documentary about Sony's strategy meetings. How can they align themselves to stay relevant?
I don't think current market share is an indicator of future market share here, here innovation and non-predictable stuff could change things completely. VR is not yet popular so the potential market was not tested yet. I own Meta devices and all I can say is they have great technologies from the Hardware side. Can also say that Unity is working towards a great SDK.
In B2B: how many companies use VR headsets for meetings?
I agree with you that this is the killer app to unlock the metaverse. When everyone can create their own spaces usage will explode like Facebook or YouTube. What makes you think he's too early though? As long as he can keep funding until that point he'll win when it happens surely?
State of art AI is progressing in that direction but we are still years away from creating a fleshed out world from prompt. Zuck funneled billions intro VR chart/Unity clone with little to show. It was too early.
The problem with Meta's vision for Metaverse isn't being early, it's being bland and technically uninspired.
VRChat, and before it Second Life, are both better placed on the same journey.
Heck, even Second Life running in a browser in 2010 has a better value proposition than Meta's vision, even if the frame rate was bad enough that I recon it would cause almost universal nausea in VR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOi11vq4bxU
