In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, discussed Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality and confessed Apple’s plans to get involved in both worlds, although he thinks AR is going to be a leader technology over VR. During the interview, Cook also defended the new AirPods and talked about the iPhone 7 design.
Robin Roberts from ABC NEWS interviewed Tim Cook Wednesday, and his answers suggested Apple is considering AR and VR in their future focus. Tim Cook said both technologies are incredibly exciting but in his view, augmented reality is the larger of the two.
Cook said augmented reality allows users to sit and be very present, taking to others and socially interacting, while a new visual world is available for all to see. He thinks that AR nature lets people be more present and Cook suggested it may be more commercially viable than VR.
“Virtual reality sort of encloses and immerses the person into an experience that can be really cool, but probably has a lower commercial interest over time,” Cook said.
But this does not mean Apple is not going to invest in VR. The company’s CEO said there are several areas of the new technology, such as education and gaming, that are among the interested Apple.
Regarding augmented reality, Cook said in July’s post-earnings report question and answer session that Apple has invested “a lot” in AR. He continued and said the company is interest in AR for the long run because they think there are great things for customers and a great commercial opportunity.
In his Washington Post interview in August, Tim Cook confessed Apple is doing various things with AR behind the curtain.
MacRumors, a site dedicated to tracking Apple and its products, claimed that the company is investing in both technologies, and they could be implemented into future iOS devices or new hardware products. A date released is still unknown,
Augmented reality imposes digital imagery over real life scenarios, which exploded in the gaming world with Pokemon Go. And virtual reality employs a particular headset to let users enjoy and exclusive digital imagery.
Virtual reality does not depend on the real world and has been used for innovating in the media. ABC News and The New York Times have used the headset to tell immersive stories in ways impossible for the current media.
Defending the iPhone 7 and the wireless AirPods
During the interview, Tim Cook was asked about the new device and the “brave” decision of removing the headphone jack. Cook responded and said the jack takes up significant space on the phone, and there were more important things the company wanted to include in the new iPhone 7.
Cook defended the new iPhone is the best one Apple has ever created and added its performance was “killer.”
Regarding the AirPods, people criticizes the small devices are easy to dislodge and lose while in use. But Cook said he has been on treadmills, walking, and doing more activities without losing one of them. He also stated that using the AirPods people will never have to be caught using earbuds. He did not talk about losing the small pieces.
Source: ABC News