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The unsung hero of visionOS is the SDK; Apple is leveraging every bit of the platform they've been building for nearly 20 years for its new spatial computer, and it shows. It’s virtually everything of iPhone & iPadOS and then some. Not a simplified version, not a do-over. Transitioning existing apps is easy, trivial even, and all that shared code can be used across iPhone, iPad, Mac and Vision (and in many cases Watch & TV). Does Microsoft or Google have bandwidth, or focus, to compete?

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in reply to Steve Troughton-Smith

MikoƂaj HoƂysz
MikoƂaj HoƂysz
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The problem with any VisionOS competitor is that Apple can just assume great hardware, and Microsoft/Google probably have to assume the lowest possible denominator. There’s literally no other company in the world with this kind of hardware, software and custom chip expertise, and you can’t pull this off without all three.
in reply to MikoƂaj HoƂysz

MikoƂaj HoƂysz
MikoƂaj HoƂysz
• •
I suspect what we’ll eventually end up with is Apple with a great, high-end, well-integrated VR/AR ecosystem and somebody, probably Meta, with a low-end, “you are the product, not the customer” ad-filled ecosystem of its own.
in reply to MikoƂaj HoƂysz

kccqzy
kccqzy
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@miki I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Microsoft or Google. There are two different models here: Microsoft can choose the Xbox model where they make the hardware, software, and custom chips; or they can choose the Windows model where they leave the hardware to others and make the software cater to the lowest common denominator. I am certain Microsoft will go with the former. Similarly for Google—they have had several generations of Pixel phones with custom hardware, custom chips, and custom software (yes there are Pixel-only features in Android!).

So in my opinion all three companies could pull it off if they really wanted to, but it's not a given that they want to compete with Apple on this front. Especially not Google.

@MikoƂaj HoƂysz
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