Recently Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg hosted an all-hands-on meeting at its Menlo Park HQ, during which the company head chose to address Apple’s recent splash into the XR space with a high-price point immersive headset: the Vision Pro.
Zuckerberg initially noted that he was “really curious to see what they [Apple] were gonna ship.” However, he stressed that his visions of spatial computing and the future of XR clash with Apple’s showcase during WWDC last Monday.
The CEO noted that Apple’s showcase represents the firm’s “vision of the future of computing,” but Apple’s vision is not the “one that I [Mark Zuckerberg] want[s].”
Zuckerberg expressed these views due to perceived differences in product values, which Apple showcased at WWDC; he noted:
I think that their announcement really showcases the difference in the values and the vision that our companies bring to this in a way that I think is really important. We innovate to make sure that our products are as accessible and affordable to everyone as possible, and that is a core part of what we do. And we have sold tens of millions of Quests.
The Metaverse is “Fundamentally Social”
Moreover, the CEO explained that Meta’s “vision for the metaverse and presence is fundamentally social.” He added that XR is “about people interacting in new ways and feeling closer in new ways.”
Zuckerberg explained that the Quest product portfolio “is also about being active and doing things” – despite Zuckerberg stating that fitness was not a core part of Meta’s company vision during recent FTC lawsuits – and Zuckerberg noted that “by contrast, every demo that they [Apple] showed was a person sitting on a couch by themself.”
Additionally, Zuckerberg added:
There’s a real philosophical difference in terms of how we’re approaching this. And seeing what they put out there and how they’re going to compete just made me even more excited and in a lot of ways optimistic that what we’re doing matters and is going to succeed. But it’s going to be a fun journey.
Finally, Zuckerberg said that, despite his comments, he has not experienced the Vision Pro yet, but Meta will “learn more as we get to play with it and see what happens and how people use it.”
Commenting further concerning other aspects of Apple’s upcoming device, Zuckerberg added:
They went with a higher resolution display, and between that and all the technology they put in there to power it, it costs seven times more and now requires so much energy that now you need a battery and a wire attached to it to use it. They made that design trade-off and it might make sense for the cases that they’re going for.
Meta does not seem concerned with the Vision Pro device. Although the firm is clearly readying itself, earlier in the month, Meta geared up for the WWDC showcase when it debuted the Quest 3 days before, with further news coming September 2023, and the firm is preparing internally, as shown by the irregular hands-on meeting.
