I think both hardware and software in AR have to become unobtrusive for people to adopt it. And then it will be a specialized tool for stuff like maintenance. Keeping large amounts of information in context without requiring frequent changes in context. But I also think that the information overload will put a premium on non-AR time. Once it becomes a common work tool, people using it will be very keen to touch grass and watch clouds afterwards.

I don't think it will ever become the mainstream everyday carry proponents want it to be. But only time will tell...

Until there is an interface for it that allows you to effectively touch type (or equivalent) then 99% of jobs won't be able to use it away from a desk anyway. Speech to text would be good enough for writing (non technical) documentation but probably not for things like filling spreadsheets or programming.

It was always the plan for Apple to release a cheaper version of the Vision Pro next. That the next version of the PRO has been postponed isn't a huge sign. It just seems that the technology isn't evolving quickly enough to warrant a new version any time soon.

Your article states this differently. The development has not been canceled fully but re focused.

“and now hopes to release a more standard headset with fewer abilities by the end of next year.

That's marketing-speak for "cancelled".

Which it probably won't, because real life physics are not aware about roadmaps and corporate ads.

What physics are you talking about? Limits on power? Display? Sensor size? I ask because I’ve had similar feelings about things like high speed mobile Internet or mobile device screen size (over a couple of decades) and lived to see all my intuition blown away, so I really don’t believe in limits that don’t have explicit physical constraints behind them.

Lens diffraction limits. VR needs lenses that are small and thin enough while still being powerful enough to bend the needed light towards the eyes. Modern lenses need more distance between the screen and the eyes and they’re quite thick.

Theoretically future lenses may make it possible, but the visible light metamaterials needed are still very early research stage.

> swim google size

The "Bigscreen Beyond" [0] is quite close, but doesn't have cameras - so at this stage it's only really good for watching movies and the like.

[0] https://store.bigscreenvr.com/products/bigscreen-beyond

That one does have 6DoF tracking, it's just based on the Valve Lighthouse system. Upside of that system is it's more privacy respecting.

Apple approved ALVR few days ago too, clearly they're having issues at least wrt getting developer attention.

1: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/alvr/id6479728026