Apple’s VR headset needs to be a hit — for itself and for the VR industry

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Apple's VR headset is its most important product in years

Apple (AAPL) will host its annual WWDC developers conference live from its Cupertino, California headquarters on June 6.

While there are certain to be plenty of announcements and demos, including our first looks at iOS 16, watchOS 9, and the latest version of macOS, the most anticipated product might not even make an appearance: Apple’s virtual and augmented reality platform.

Reportedly dubbed realityOS for reality operating system, the software would provide the foundation for Apple’s future VR and AR plans, not to mention give developers the opportunity to start building apps for the platform.

Apple has a lot riding on its VR and AR products. The platform would serve as the company’s first major product launch since it debuted the Apple Watch in 2015, and entry into Silicon Valley’s latest obsession: the metaverse. More importantly, though, it could finally give Apple the iPhone successor it’s been chasing for years.

But if the headset and its related software are flops out of the gate, it would deal a heavy blow to a broader VR industry looking toward Apple as the catalyst to launch the technology into the mainstream.

Tim Cook arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar party during the 94th Academy Awards in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., March 28, 2022.    REUTERS/Danny Moloshok
Apple CEO Tim Cook will have to oversee the successful launch of Apple's AR/VR headset. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok · Danny Moloshok / reuters

“AR needs Apple to succeed,” Loup Ventures’ managing partner Gene Munster told Yahoo Finance.

“It'd be a missed opportunity, because I think there is a lot that can be unlocked with AR longer term. But the risk is that [Apple] misfires and the industry just never gets going.”

Apple’s realityOS is the next major interface

There’s no guarantee that Apple will unveil realityOS at WWDC, but if the software or hardware is going to debut this year, there’s no better place than Apple’s largest showcase.

On Saturday, Vox’s Parker Ortolani spotted a trademark application for Apple’s suspected AR and VR operating system: realityOS. And while it wasn’t registered to Apple, there’s a possibility the company it is registered to, Realityo Systems LLC, is a shell company for the iPhone maker. Big firms often use companies to help hide their more secretive products.

Apple isn’t the only company pouring money into the AR/VR and the metaverse. Facebook parent Meta (FB) spent more than $10 billion on its own AR and VR effort in 2021 alone. The social networking giant hopes that by building out its own hardware and software for the metaverse, it will no longer have to abide by Apple’s App Store rules.