VR will be huge for gaming and other more niche things, but AR will be what people use all day, every day in their lives. Meta is focused too much on VR when they are not a gaming company. They should be focused on AR. They will be playing catch up with Apple when Apple released their AR.
The applications of AR are obvious, but I don't think the technology to make it generally useful exists. You need a device which:
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1. Looks normal, or at least relatively normal. (I'm not actually convinced the "at least" part is sufficient.)
2. Is comfortable to wear for extended periods. (Not too heavy, not too much heat, etc.)
3. Has a battery which can last most of the day.
4. Has lenses which are transparent, but onto which images can be digitally superimposed.
5. Has enough computing power on-board to do the actual AR calculations and graphics rendering, or is able to wirelessly communicate with a phone with extremely low latency. (Note that for Meta specifically, the latter approach would still leave them reliant on Apple/Google.)
* Bonus points for handling prescription lenses somehow, lest you cut off a huge portion of the potential market!
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This is really hard! Modern computers are small, but they aren't nearly small enough to do #5 without ruining #1, much less #2. Nor are they power-efficient enough for #3.
It's great to want things, but outside of science fiction you need more than just a vision of how something could work, you need technology to make it happen.
Building a useful VR headset is not easy, but it is a lot easier. You don't need the battery to last all day (if you have any battery at all), and it's okay if the headset looks kind of stupid. You want the headset to be as comfortable as possible, but it's okay if it feels weighty after an hour or so. And because the headset can be bigger and heavier, you can also get away with shoving more computing power inside.
We'll see what Apple announces at WWDC, but I'm skeptical they will make more headway than Meta.
Playing devil's advocate: a lot of your requirements become easier if you allow for tethering to one or more devices on your belt, or even on a backpack, through a discreet cable behind the ear. The hardest part is probably #4 (the lenses and projector) combined with #1 (looking normal).
My initial reaction is "that cable would have to be pretty darn discreet"—but I suppose wired headphones became normalized enough. I feel like there's an inherent difference in level-of-weirdness when the cable is attached to something on your eyes versus your ears, but maybe culture would adapt. Personally, I wouldn't want to bet my company on it.
"About half" of Reality Labs spend is in AR R&D according to Bosworth. I'll be very interested to see what Apple brings to the table, but would not expect Meta to be playing catch up.
