Apple? They will never be a realistic competitor to Quest 2 on price. Apple is not in the business of selling below or at cost.
They'll make great hardware but the price will keep it in the "well off consumer" range. Good for Apple because that's where the profits are but it won't make VR mainstream.
Obviously they will sell at a premium, but they will make it affordable for average people in developed countries, just like with the iPhone. If you look at the smartphone market today, other brands also position their flagship products in similar price ranges like the iPhone.
And don't forget about the iPhone SE, which is a very good deal price/quality wise.
For VR, I wouldn't be suprised if a lot of people would be ready to pay a premium just to have device that has feature-parity with the Quest 2 but is not owned by Facebook. You have to understand that so many people use the Quest 2, despite the fact that they hate Facebook (yours truly included).
But Apple's premium will probably be upwards of $1000 (I mean, seriously, do you really expect it to cost less? :) ). Meaning more than 3 times the price of the Quest 2! And this is for a product category that has not yet proven itself as indispensable in our daily lives, unlike the smartphone. I'm sure many Apple enthusiasts will buy one because it's shiny and from Apple but it will not be mainstream like that.
I doubt people are willing to pay that much more just to avoid facebook (especially considering facebook is decoupling their logins again from the quest services).
With current inflation rates (The EU is printing money by the billions per day) I do see a big gap in American (especially Silicon Valley) purchasing power and here in Western Europe. Whereas a few years ago I'd see only flagship phones in public transport, now it's a ton of redmi, budget samsungs etc. People don't have a lot of money anymore.
> But Apple's premium will probably be upwards of $1000
Yes, for sure. And I think that's a part of the reason they haven't released a VR headset yet. Give it a few years (maybe 5?) and there will be enough entertainment value and other utlity from a headset, especially if the ergonomics get better, which they will.
iPhones are great hardware, sold far above cost, that are very much mainstream and changed the shape of the entire product field.
Apple's VR doesn't have to compete with the Quest on price if their product is that much better. Which, hey - it's Apple. They might be able to pull that off.
iPhones are mainstream and market leader in the US, yes.
In every other region not so much. Here in Western Europe they are far from market leading, though still able to be considered 'mainstream'. But due to the inflation and lack of salary increases here since the 2007 crisis, most people go for midrangers now, and the iPhone SE is not attractive at all (old design, no oled screen). Just looking around on the subway I would see nothing but cheap Chinese phones now, most of the iPhones are from tourists.
s/VR/Smartphones/g and you could've logically written this in 2006 when people thought $200 was an obscene amount to pay for a phone.
I'm bullish on Oculus since I think they'll get the software and exclusives right (also I have one and I'm impressed by it) but I don't think Apple being an upmarket brand is going to slow them down at all.
Exactly, but $200 was a lot back then because the platform hadn't proven itself yet.
Tthe first iPhone cost $499, and they even dropped the price of the $599 iPhone after a few months to $399, in a pretty unprecedented move by Apple. The price was clearly too high for a market that had not yet proven its value. VR is in the same situation as the modern smartphone was back then.
IMO it was the 3G iPhone that was the one that mattered and that was only $199 with contract. The original iPhone was like a weird alpha prototype. There was no reason not to get the contract at the time because AT&T was the only company you could use an iPhone on anyways
They'll make great hardware but the price will keep it in the "well off consumer" range. Good for Apple because that's where the profits are but it won't make VR mainstream.