Ahead of Launch, Apple Employees Worried that Mixed Reality Headsets Will Be a Failed Product!

JAKARTA - Apple plans to launch a mixed reality (MR) headset at its annual World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2023. However, their employees have doubts about the device.

According to a NYTimes report, Apple employees expressed concern where the headset would fail miserably. The eight employees and former employees who disclosed this also questioned whether the device was a solution to the problem.

Employees are also skeptical due to the headset's price tag of US$3,000 which is quite expensive, and the use of the headset and its market which has not been proven so far.

Several employees doubted the viability of the project so much that they defected to different parts of the business. While others have been fired for a lack of advancement in aspects of the headset, including integration to Siri's voice assistant.

Not long ago, not a few Apple employees or designers were also worried about the launch because it required more time to develop and test the headset.

However, Apple CEO Tim Cook is adamant about completing the launch this year. The event created internal problems among engineers, and some thought Cook wanted to walk away from his stint by opening up an era, adding headsets to his legacy.

Previously, five years ago the company's top 100 executives were shown a video demo of the headset. The video features a man putting on a headset in London, then calling his wife in San Francisco, and letting her look around the city from his eyes.

The mixed reality headset looks like ski goggles, has a carbon fiber frame, a battery-filled hip pack, uses an external camera to capture the world, and is equipped with two 4K screens.

Users can rotate the reality dial on the device to increase or decrease the real-time video pass-through of the world around them.

Executives are reportedly excited about the headset's potential when it comes to business applications like video conferencing, but that excitement has turned to skepticism for many.

However, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the headset was showcased again to 100 executives at the Steve Jobs Theater last week. He believes the new headset will be launched with some problems. This was quoted from various sources, Tuesday, March 28.