Apple will probably fill in that void at some point they've got a lock on all that intelligence. I'm curious how long it will take and how they will manage to do it without stepping on privacy toes.
A problem I see with FB is that they don't control anything on which they run. They run on stuff from their competitors: it's either Google (Chrome / Android), Microsot (Windows / Edge) or Apple (OS X / Safari / iOS).
Despite the downturn these three behemoths are still enjoying a market cap in the trillion+. Meta is actually down to $360 bn. Meta controls neither the OS nor the browser.
They want to change that by having people switching en masse to the Metaverse but I'm really not sure this is happening.
I still think they are going to fail spectacularly there, but I suppose I can't blame them for trying.
I know I'm armchairing the devil so to speak but I think this would have been a good long term play for them, but I imagine their expertise at the time was antithetical to hardware.
They bet that they did not need to, but unfortunately for Meta, looks like they should have.
The muscle is around contract negotiation with the carriers and co-opting those partnerships, but they had the money to burn on this.
Imo at the end of the day people don't give two shits about privacy, convenience is king
[1] Or watch Feel Good Videos ABOUT People Spontaneously HELPING Poor ANIMALS Trapped In A PREDICAMENT [2].
[2] That the people in question may or may not have put them into.
They could all definitely manufacture Android devices and hold some Android sub-market share, but that business isn't interesting to them. They wanted to control a platform, and when it was clear that wasn't going to happen (after spending many billions), they gave up.
But Microsoft and Google and Meta were not interested in “in person support” or business that does not scale, and part of the price they pay for that is to be gimped by Apple at a moments notice and watch your market cap dive.
I can't use the device.
If I dig into the box, and drag it out, I need to deal with all of this stuff. I want to play for example Superhot, but I have no idea how to even reinstall or even if I need to reinstall because I need to login with something above "all over again".
Fucking trash.
The "Metaverse" is just a bad joke regardless if it worked perfectly, but all of this crud means that I can't even be bothered picking up the actual device.
The tech isn't even close to there yet.
Current gen VR tech demos sparks the imagination, and it's definitely great for people that want to like it... But that's not even close to good enough for mass adoption.
Their teased prototypes look like a solid upgrade, but it's still not going to be enough.
Mobile procedures just don't have enough graphics power yet and the one's we do have consume too much power. We're missing several hardware breakthrough before mass adoption becomes likely from my perspective as a VR headset owner.
It's probably gonna happen eventually, but not necessarily with current tech.
Meta might succeed if it stays on the ball and keeps pushing for centuries, but i don't think it's management will do so.
Centuries? I haven't taken a close look at VR (though I'm flirting with buying a headset soon, just for kicks...) but I'd always assumed it was more like 10-25 years away.
What are the hardware breakthroughs that you think would do it?
Very light AR glasses can be an interesting proposition but they will not provide the VR immersive experience.
I'm not sure what people expect from VR but it's not Ready Player One and will not be for a very long time. However, playing Half Life Alyx is quite phenomenal even today on current hardware.
And it will be fun to watch from the outside.
Unfortunately, I don't expect this endeavor to give interesting fruits to humanity, but sometimes happy accidents happen.
Finally, even for people who get hopelessly car sick as passengers no matter what they do, the advantage of a fast safe private ride often outweighs the discomfort - especially since no one is spending more than 1h in a car more often than a few times a year. It is very hard to imagine what application could make VR give even close to the amount of utility that cars give you.
And we never need Oculus for anything. That's a big difference.
Very few people need oculus/VR, while a lot people need cars. Possibly a lot more like 10000x
Why as a consumer, do I want to wear something on my head? especially since, handheld phones are already way more engaging than I need. Are VR headsets just another entertainment device (something I have way too much of already) or will it facilitate work from home?
This is what makes me really uneasy about React. I feel there is too much cargo cult of a technology that doesn’t even work for their creators in the first place.
You do realize you just described the vast majority of all tech companies that exist today, right?
a) what if they don't? Why should they?
b) I would lose a lot of trust in Apple if they did. I don't buy iOS devices because I trust Apple Ads better. I buy them because I can avoid ads better and my privacy doesn't get shredded in the process.
c) Wouldn't that be a massive antitrust issue?
A lot of advertisers are thus shifting their ad spend into Apple.
Honestly I don't use FB, but my wife does, and I can tell you she spends about 1/100th the time in the Apple App Store as FB.
I don't see Search Ads as having anywhere near the same context.
They will because they are a for-profit company and there's profit to be had. Apple will likely find a strong marketing angle for their Ad network (won't be the first time they've tried).
Selling hardware is a great business but it gets saturated eventually. The next move for eternal growth is selling services on top of said hardware.
> I would lose a lot of trust in Apple if they did. I don't buy iOS devices because I trust Apple Ads better. I buy them because I can avoid ads better and my privacy doesn't get shredded in the process.
Apple already has a lot of data about you. Consider that they own both the hardware and software experience on an iPhone. I'm having a hard time seeing an alternative here unless you have the time to manage your own phone OS...
> Wouldn't that be a massive antitrust issue?
Only if someone does something about it. I assume G and Meta's lawyers are already working on arguments.
Edit: Even today, I'm still seeing ads for a subwoofer that I bought back in early August. Good going, Meta.
Note that I strongly dislike adtech as a business model, but my hat is off to their cunning marketing if Apple pulls it off.
Apple has been around for a while, they I wonder if the company has some institutional 'survival instinct' that's identified growing the ad platform become too much as long-term unhealthy. It is a corrupting influence that makes the consumer into the enemy, after all.
They've also managed to become incredibly huge while somehow mostly dodging the eye of regulatory bodies. Privacy could mess with that track record and I'm sure they are aware of that fact.