How long Apple will stay on the VR button?

How long Apple will stay on the VR button? ,

Consumer Electronics Show this year was defined by the momentum. He demonstrated how virtual reality into the mainstream speeds, aided by growing support from both hardware manufacturers and game developers. He also illustrated a particular inconsistency: the hottest technology company in the world and the hottest trend in technology of the world are not, at present, in alignment. Apple does not have an RV product or any sort of VR articulated strategy.

Virtual reality is like the second coming of PC gaming

To understand the commercial potential of VR, listen to the words of Alienware co-founder Frank Azor. In a joint announcement with Oculus founder Palmer Luckey at CES, Azor describes VR as the second coming of PC gaming. Alienware was founded in 1996 on the basis that it could charge a premium for the creation of PCs that have been adapted to provide the best gaming experience. Now, almost 20 years later, Azor see the same momentum for PC purchases from VR applications. "Every form factor that we are building," said the head of Alienware and XPS division of Dell, "will be with VR in mind."

Apple has completely missed the revolution of the game mid 90s the company has recovered to become preeminent Tech aspirational brand in the world, and now control a vast market and growing games iOS but for two decades, he was excluded from the first class of games that have thrilled and surprised us on both PC and consoles. Gaming on a Mac remains a joke today because of how poorly Apple fell behind there so many years.

How long Apple can afford to stay out of the RV development cycle without falling dramatically behind? virtual reality experiences - both games, roller coaster rides, geographic explorations, creative or simulators - incredible promise but it will take time to develop and refine. No one outside of Apple Apple can develop a VR platform if it does not exist yet. Sure, some big names like Epic Games can be rented in hiding, but a third-party software ecosystem begins only once a platform is in the audience.

Good things take time to build

Oculus has the first advantage with the developer team multigenerational all-star, led by 23-year -old Luckey and legendary programmer John Carmack (which, incidentally, helped to catalyze the popularity of 3D gaming with the release of the seminal Doom in 1993, a year after the birth of Luckey). Jump Google's initiative is the construction of an entire ecosystem to help filmmakers VR and expand the library of 360 movies available online. Microsoft will soon distribute development kits for its augmented reality HoloLens helmet. Valve and HTC are deeply invested in making the HTC Vive a formidable competitor and Oculus Rift VR Sony PlayStation is on the near horizon with a growing library of supported games. Even Nokia has reinvented itself around VR. Where is Apple?

Like any other field of high-tech innovation, it is obvious that the developers of hardware and software and third will all work together to create compelling VR ecosystems. You find yourself attracted to a Rift, a live or a PlayStation VR headset, your reasons will be a mixture of comfort and quality of the device itself, the ease of use, and variety and enjoyability experiences on offer.

Integration of all the various elements of the product design into a coherent and satisfying was the Apple trademark for many years now, and it is also used to Apple not to disclose plans until he can present the world with a polished, mature product, commercial. But these habits were significantly disrupted in 2015 when almost all Apple introduced was incomplete, imperfect, or otherwise in need of improvement. 2015 was the year of the beta of Apple, yet the company has not so much as hint at virtual reality projects. The logical conclusion to draw is that RV Apple's efforts have not yet reached even the beta phase.

Apple VR is not inevitable, but it makes sense

To this point, Apple has just done some hiring and preparatory acquisitions - those known are the German company metaio, for its augmented reality technology, and capture specialists Faceshift Swiss movement - and his intentions remain opaque. Given the history of the Cupertino company to reject the widely adopted as Blu-ray and standard Micro USB, it is not out of the question that Apple could bypass all the virtual reality craze. It could be that Apple intends to do something more mobile centric, has the Samsung Gear VR and or it has its eyes on augmented reality, like Microsoft.

Yet the most likely scenario still seems to be that Apple will jump into the VR competition - because it is more than just another quest industry technology to invent new reasons to sell more stuff. Virtual reality is the next computing platform, the next frontier in how we interact with technology. Apple does not need to be invented from scratch, or to be first. The company prefers to allow a category of approaching maturity before the disturbance, which is still a few years to VR, although the appropriate timing will be necessary to ensure it is not left behind with VR as he done with the game on PC.

The future of VR seems delightfully bright crisp morning in January 2016. Oculus window is only in the impressive offer VR uses and experiences, and competitive pressure from HTC, Sony and Microsoft will help the pace of innovation and mass market proliferation. And as virtual reality accelerates before, one of his most enigmatic issues will be whether and how it has the support of the largest technology company in the world. VR does not require Apple to succeed, and Apple does not need VR to support his epic race to prosperity -. But the combination of the two together seems like it would help propel both to bigger and better things