Don't trust the Apple headset takes

Apple is set to reveal its long-rumoured mixed reality headset next week, and everyone’s about to have an opinion.

As with any product unveiling - especially an Apple one - there are going to be an unfathomable amount of hot takes on all sides of the spectrum (like this one). There'll be unbridled hype and staunch negativity - especially given the headset is Apple’s first entry into a new category since the Apple Watch in 2014.

I want to focus on the latter. Whenever Apple moves into a new product category, there's historically been a strong negative reaction.

I and many others thought the iPhone was going to fail because it didn't have 3G, couldn't copy and paste, and didn't support business email standards like Exchange.

The Apple Watch caused a whole lot of ire, resulting in headlines like "I will not have sex with anyone who wears an Apple Watch" on Gawker and "Nine reasons only a tool would buy the Apple Watch" on The Guardian.

AirPods (while not strictly a new product category for Apple), were widely mocked for looking like Q-tips and electric toothbrush heads.

It's inevitable we'll see the same kind of coverage following Apple's event next week. As a first-generation product, there's no way Apple's headset won’t have its fair share of shortcomings. For one, it's expected to cost USD$2,000. The jokes write themselves - especially in this economy.

And to be fair, there were plenty of valid criticisms about the first-generation iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods, but the products have come to define their respective categories.

The iPhone 3G and the App Store solidified the iPhone as the blueprint for the next decade of smartphones - and iOS 3 finally added copy and paste in 2009.

The Apple Watch came into its own when Apple stopped thinking about it as a luxury fashion accessory and as more of a fitness tracker. Apple now sells more Apple Watches in a single quarter than the Swiss industry does in a year.

It became hard to escape AirPods by the time the second-generation take came out. Audio manufacturers standardised on wire-free, and AirPod alternatives were either copycats or actively tried to avoid the white stick design.

There's a good chance the Apple headset will follow the same kind of cadence. The first-generation model will essentially be a public beta, with reports suggesting Apple is only expecting to ship 1.5 million in the first year. Even if it costs USD$2,000, that's not going to be enough to offset research and development costs given how long Apple is rumoured to have been working on the project. (For comparison, iPhone sales are measured in tens of millions within months of a new model dropping.)

The first-generation headset going public gets it out for early adopters (and more importantly app developers, given the reveal is part of WWDC) and gives Apple the chance to get feedback and iterate based on real-world usage. It's the start of the journey, rather than a destination.

And sure, there's every chance that journey might not pay off. Outside of gaming, there have been few compelling arguments for high-end mixed reality headsets. Attempts like the Meta Quest Pro have been criticised for lacking purpose, and Apple still has to prove why one would want to drop MacBook money on a headset.

Either way, the outcome of Apple's mixed reality strategy isn't going to be decided next week, or even this year. It's going to be a long road paved with hot takes, and I can't wait to see how it plays out.

Alex Choros

Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor | X | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn

Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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