Apple CEO Favors Augmented Reality Over Virtual Reality

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Apple CEO Favors Augmented Reality Over Virtual Reality

Apple CEO, Tim Cook, recently gave an interview where he explained why he favors Augmented Reality over Virtual Reality. A few of the key quotes from Tim Cook include:

“There’s virtual reality and there’s augmented reality — both of these are incredibly interesting,” Cook told ABC News’ Robin Roberts. “But my own view is that augmented reality is the larger of the two, probably by far.”

“(AR) gives the capability for both of us to sit and be very present, talking to each other, but also have other things — visually — for both of us to see. Maybe it’s something we’re talking about, maybe it’s someone else here who’s not here present but who can be made to appear to be present.”

“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. Less people will be interested in that.”

An eMarketer study recently found that investment interest in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality remains strong. However, as we pointed out in a recent VentureBeat OpEd, Virtual Reality has received the majority of recent startup investment.

Pokémon Go has reached $500 million in revenue faster than any other mobile app and is on track for $1 billion in revenue by the end of the year.  And this is only the direct revenue that Niantic (Pokémon Go’s creator) has achieved. There’s an entire soft or ancillary revenue stream from retailers and brands that are benefiting from the Pokémon Go ecosystem – primarily game players that are driven to retail locations to make purchases.

Virtual Reality on the other hand, while receiving the majority of investment, has an entire ecosystem that is unlikely able to reach the same level of revenue this year as one single Pokémon Go Augmented Reality app.

Though Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are both exciting technologies and future of interaction and immersion, Vanity Fair’s thoughts on the Tim Cook interview sums it up best, “Tim Cook Nailed The Problem With Virtual Reality.”

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