A key difference is the iPhone massively reduced the friction of mobile access to Internet services; that's the secret sauce which gained it huge adoption with the general public - Many commentators did not perceive this up front, and also missed that the market potential was far larger than just mobile business productivity - So iPhone took the casual private use mass market by storm while BES continued to dominate professional productivity for a while until they fell behind on hardware (e.g. the disaster that was the Storm).
Contrast that with the metaverse concept - Until some killer solution comes along that drops the friction for joe public to access it, it'll languish as a niche activity for people willing to dedicate a room and endure a bulky headset. Just as Internet surfing did through the 90s when it really required owning a desktop PC and having some corner of your house dedicated to the beast. Right now that looks like bulky VR headsets, poor resolution, and being locked off from the world around you while you're in the other place. There are a lot of parallels there to 90s internet access I think, and how that opened up with mobile devices that you could whip out of (and return to) your pocket moment to moment.
Early attempts to break down this barrier were Google glass, and Microsoft's foray a few years back into augmented reality. To an extent Starline as well. If/when someone cracks it and comes up with a solution that greatly reduces the friction to slip from real world into metaverse, they'll clean house. Until then, I suspect folks comparing it to the failure of 3dtv adoption are closer to the mark.
I take your point but have you tried the Oculus Quest 2? If you haven't, I would suggest you do. I think it's pretty compelling where it is now and I don't think it's too bulky for short - medium sessions. And with a stationary Guardian even.
Better, but a major breakthrough on multiple fronts is required. The lightest headset with fantastic resolution and response still won’t make the cut for widespread adoption IMO. You need to crack input/control as well as real life/meta transition. Can probably get there with enough iterative improvement, but it will be quite some generations yet.
Contrast that with the metaverse concept - Until some killer solution comes along that drops the friction for joe public to access it, it'll languish as a niche activity for people willing to dedicate a room and endure a bulky headset. Just as Internet surfing did through the 90s when it really required owning a desktop PC and having some corner of your house dedicated to the beast. Right now that looks like bulky VR headsets, poor resolution, and being locked off from the world around you while you're in the other place. There are a lot of parallels there to 90s internet access I think, and how that opened up with mobile devices that you could whip out of (and return to) your pocket moment to moment.
Early attempts to break down this barrier were Google glass, and Microsoft's foray a few years back into augmented reality. To an extent Starline as well. If/when someone cracks it and comes up with a solution that greatly reduces the friction to slip from real world into metaverse, they'll clean house. Until then, I suspect folks comparing it to the failure of 3dtv adoption are closer to the mark.