If you told me Meta, formally Facebook, would be a leader in pushing open standards for AI and Mixed Reality, I would have called you insane, but here we are. Mark Zuckerberg offered his review of Apple Vision Pro and made some excellent points. I also stated in my newsletter last year that Meta really needed a true competitor in the mixed reality space – the Android to Apple’s iPhone.

I own a Meta Quest 2, but have only trialed the Meta Quest 3, and I found both devices to be fantastic. Meta Quest was revolutionary as the first non-hobbyist portable headset that broke free from reliance on a gaming computer or console. I loved it initially and used it every day for maybe 2 weeks, but then it ended up in a drawer only to pop out occasionally as a party favor.

Looking back, the device itself was great, but the app ecosystem was lacking; most of the content felt like game demos rather than full experiences, lacking that killer app to make me want to keep using it.

Apple Vision Pro has taken a different approach from the start, promoting itself as a productivity device that can also do entertainment or gaming. Most of Apple’s ads and demos show people using it in work or home settings, compared to Meta’s vision of walking through a social media metaverse or battling blocks with lightsabers. Meta Quest felt like an extension of my game consoles, whereas Apple Vision Pro feels like an extension of the Mac.

This, for me, is the key difference: Apple Vision Pro, from day one, leveraged the mature iPad ecosystem with access to tons of apps like Slack. I could use my Mac and external keyboard seamlessly – it just worked. The Apple TV app surfaced shows I liked, and between apps like Disney Plus and Crunchyroll I could watch what I wanted. Apple scratched a productivity itch I didn’t know I had while leaning into their tightly integrated ecosystem.

Zuckerberg is right that Meta Quest has strengths, but the missions of the two companies have differed from the start. Now that each has a direct competitor, I’m excited to see the next generation of devices push the category forward.

Mark Zuckerberg on Instagram: “I tried Vision Pro. Here’s my take, shot with Quest’s high resolution mixed reality passthrough.”

196K likes, 9,123 comments – zuck on February 13, 2024: “I tried Vision Pro. Here’s my take, shot with Quest’s high resolution mixed reality passthrough.”