The Race for Our Eyes
Following Mark Zuckerberg’s Connect 2025 keynote, online reactions to Ray-Ban Meta Display were surprisingly upbeat. Most gadget reviewers seemed to say just enough in their initial impressions videos and articles to cover their bases if the glasses turn out to be popular. More importantly, reactions on social media suggested that smart glasses similar to what Meta announced are the future.
The idea of wearing a computer on our face is not new. Google Glass went on sale in April 2014 although the company never took distribution seriously, not that different from how Pixel faired. We won’t spend too much time writing Google Glass’s obituary other than to say it was a product meant for a world in which design doesn’t matter. Around this same time, Facebook acquired Oculus, which kicked off a decade of Facebook grabbing some goodwill among gamers and VR enthusiasts. Magic Leap was the leader among a handful of HW startups, at least when it came to capturing the hearts and minds of journalists and VCs.
Become a subscriber today to continue reading. Already a subscriber? Sign in and read the full essay here.
An audio version of this essay is also available to subscribers. Sign in for instructions on getting the private podcast up and running in your favorite podcast player.
Inside Orchard Subscriptions
Choose either a monthly or annual membership. Payment is processed by Memberful and secured by Stripe. Apple Pay and other mobile payment options are accepted. Special bundle pricing is available when subscribing to the Above Avalon Daily newsletter.
Member Privileges and Benefits
Receive Exclusive Essays. The cornerstone of an Inside Orchard subscription is access to Neil’s weekly essays on the latest developments in the technology industry. Weekly essays are ~1,000 words and sent via email. Essays revolve around the following topics: technology industry analysis, business model analysis, technology’s impact on societal and consumer trends. Create a free profile to read a few sample essays.
Access Exclusive Private Podcast. Listen to Inside Orchard essays via an exclusive private podcast. After becoming a member, all previously-published podcast episodes become available in your favorite podcast player. Podcast episodes never become available to the public.
Inside Orchard Support. Play an active role in supporting Inside Orchard as an independent source of analysis and perspective. Inside Orchard is 100% supported by its subscribers.
Meta’s VR Predicament
With Apple Vision Pro now officially on sale, Meta finds itself in quite the predicament. After initially pooh-poohing Apple’s headset, there are signs of Mark Zuckerberg and company already pivoting to reinvigorate their own headset strategy. Such a change in mindset suggests Meta will be a different kind of competitor than Apple has seen in the past, and yet I don’t have confidence that Meta can compete against what Apple is selling.
An Inside Orchard subscription is required to continue reading this essay. Subscribers can read the essay here.
Inside Orchard Subscriptions
Payment is processed by Memberful and secured by Stripe. Apple Pay and other mobile payment options are accepted. Special bundle pricing is available for Above Avalon members.
Subscriber Privileges and Benefits
Receive Exclusive Essays. The cornerstone of an Inside Orchard subscription is access to Neil’s weekly essays on the latest developments in the technology industry. Weekly essays are ~1,000 words and sent via email. Essays revolve around the following topics: technology industry analysis, business model analysis, technology’s impact on societal and consumer trends. Create a free profile to read a few sample essays.
Access Exclusive Private Podcast. Listen to Inside Orchard essays via an exclusive private podcast. After becoming a member, all previously-published podcast episodes become available in your favorite podcast player. Podcast episodes never become available to the public.
Inside Orchard Support. Play an active role in supporting Inside Orchard as an independent source of analysis and perspective. Inside Orchard is 100% supported by its subscribers.
Why Tech Feels Tired
We still have two months to go in 2023. A lot can and will likely happen. However, we are already able to point to a few broad tech themes that have come to define the year.
Imagination has escaped the paid video space as companies shift their efforts to improve user monetization. Password sharing crackdowns, ad tiers, and price increases have been leading the industry’s new cycle. Consumers have become somewhat downbeat of what seems like retrogression to traditional cable bundle dynamics on a few fronts in paid streaming.
Generative AI certainly captured this year’s tech hype cycle but most of the consumer-oriented early examples involving the technology fall short on the excitement and intrigue fronts.
EVs remain a very complicated industry with plenty of questions regarding just how much progress is being made.
The consumer gadget recession rages on and has contributed to a wave of HW executive turnover and changing hardware strategies.
An Inside Orchard subscription is required to continue reading this essay. Subscribers can read the essay here.
(Subscribers: The password for reading exclusive essays is always accessible by logging in and going to Downloads.)
Inside Orchard Subscriptions
Payment is processed and secured by Stripe. Apple Pay and other mobile payment options are accepted. Special bundle pricing is available for Above Avalon members.
Subscriber Privileges and Benefits
Receive Exclusive Essays. The cornerstone of an Inside Orchard subscription is access to Neil’s weekly essays on the latest developments in the technology industry. Weekly essays are 1,000 words and sent via email on Thursdays. Essays revolve around the following topics: technology industry analysis, business model analysis, technology’s impact on societal and consumer trends. A sample essay can be viewed here.
Access Exclusive Private Podcast. Listen to Inside Orchard essays via an exclusive private podcast. After becoming a paid subscriber, all previously-published podcast episodes become available in your favorite podcast player. Podcast episodes never become available to the public.
Inside Orchard Support. Play an active role in supporting Inside Orchard as an independent source of analysis and perspective. Inside Orchard is 100% supported by its subscribers.
Big Tech’s Hardware Paralysis
It’s been a very busy two months for consumer gadget enthusiasts. With Samsung kicking off the fall product cycle earlier than usual in July to Google’s product event in NYC last week, we now have a good view of how tech companies are positioned heading into the holiday season. As the gadget recession rages on while AI mania remains palpable, the way companies are thinking about hardware is splintering, leading to more questions and unknown.
In terms of the underlying themes found with product events (six to be exact – Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Samsung, Apple, and Meta), there is a growing recognition / acceptance that ecosystems will dictate long-term success. Wearables are finally getting the attention they deserve. At the same time, years of Apple ecosystem momentum is front-and-center with most companies. There is no more denying that Apple’s billion-user installed base is a force to be reckoned with. Thoughts of competing with Apple on price are firmly in the rear-view mirror.
Here were more granular takeaways from this year’s fall product event cycle:
An Inside Orchard subscription is required to continue reading this essay. Subscribers can read the essay here.
(Subscribers: The password for reading exclusive essays is always accessible by logging in and going to Downloads.)
Inside Orchard Subscriptions
Payment is processed and secured by Stripe. Apple Pay and other mobile payment options are accepted. Special bundle pricing is available for Above Avalon members.
Subscriber Privileges and Benefits
Receive Exclusive Essays. The cornerstone of an Inside Orchard subscription is access to Neil’s weekly essays on the latest developments in the technology industry. Weekly essays are 1,000 words and sent via email on Thursdays. Essays revolve around the following topics: technology industry analysis, business model analysis, technology’s impact on societal and consumer trends. A sample essay can be viewed here.
Access Exclusive Private Podcast. Listen to Inside Orchard essays via an exclusive private podcast. After becoming a paid subscriber, all previously-published podcast episodes become available in your favorite podcast player. Podcast episodes never become available to the public.
Inside Orchard Support. Play an active role in supporting Inside Orchard as an independent source of analysis and perspective. Inside Orchard is 100% supported by its subscribers.
Smartphones Are Black Holes
Criticism facing Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro headset has centered around a consistent theme: Isolation. Wearing the headset has raised concerns for some that society is headed in the wrong direction as we are increasingly removed from our surroundings. This isolation concern is said to be found with those wearing the headset, as well as those wanting to share experiences with headset wearers. A scene of a dad wearing Vision Pro to capture a child’s birthday party has been called everything from inhumane to dystopian. As an offshoot of this isolation argument, some people aren’t sure how experiences can be shared anymore if only some people are wearing Vision Pro.
What’s fascinating is how these isolation fears don’t extend to all headset companies. In what can only be described as mental gymnastics, Meta is said to offer an alternative to Vision Pro’s isolation risk because of Mark Zuckerberg’s social mandate of connecting people in virtual worlds.
An Inside Orchard subscription is required to continue reading this essay. Subscribers can read the essay here.
(Subscribers: The password for reading exclusive essays is always accessible by logging in and going to Downloads.)
Inside Orchard Subscriptions
Payment is processed and secured by Stripe. Apple Pay and other mobile payment options are accepted. Special bundle pricing is available for Above Avalon members.
Subscriber Privileges and Benefits
Receive Exclusive Essays. The cornerstone of an Inside Orchard subscription is access to Neil’s weekly essays on the latest developments in the technology industry. Weekly essays are 1,000 words and sent via email on Tuesdays. Essays revolve around the following topics: technology industry analysis, business model analysis, technology’s impact on societal and consumer trends. A sample essay can be viewed here.
Access Exclusive Private Podcast. Listen to Inside Orchard essays via an exclusive private podcast. After becoming a paid subscriber, all previously-published podcast episodes become available in your favorite podcast player. Podcast episodes never become available to the public.
Inside Orchard Support. Play an active role in supporting Inside Orchard as an independent source of analysis and perspective. Inside Orchard is 100% supported by its subscribers.
The Spatial Battle for Our Home
Earlier this week, Apple unveiled Vision Pro, it’s first headset. After I spent 30 minutes using the headset at Apple Park, it was clear that the technology powering Vision Pro is going to change the world. Entire industries will implode while new ones will be born. Spatial computing headsets will not be a novelty toy only found in tech circles. Instead, we are going to see the headsets usher in new competitive battles in our homes, offices, and on the road.
Thinking of tech’s progress via battles for our spaces (home, office, car) is appropriate. Doing so reflects how companies are competing for our attention and workflows. Given a finite amount of time each day, there are only so many devices and services that can earn a place in our lives. While some devices may be swapped out over time with new services mixing in with old ones, the battle lines are formed around value propositions and the degree to which problems are addressed.
In the home, we have seen premature tech winners crowned.
An Inside Orchard subscription is required to continue reading this essay. Subscribers can read the essay here.
(Subscribers: The password for reading exclusive essays is always accessible by logging in and going to Downloads.)
Inside Orchard Subscriptions
Payment is processed and secured by Stripe. Apple Pay and other mobile payment options are accepted. Special bundle pricing is available for Above Avalon members.
Subscriber Privileges and Benefits
Receive Exclusive Essays. The cornerstone of an Inside Orchard subscription is access to Neil’s weekly essays on the latest developments in the technology industry. Weekly essays are 1,000 words and sent via email on Tuesdays. Essays revolve around the following topics: technology industry analysis, business model analysis, technology’s impact on societal and consumer trends. A sample essay can be viewed here.
Access Exclusive Private Podcast. Listen to Inside Orchard essays via an exclusive private podcast. After becoming a paid subscriber, all previously-published podcast episodes become available in your favorite podcast player. Podcast episodes never become available to the public.
Inside Orchard Support. Play an active role in supporting Inside Orchard as an independent source of analysis and perspective. Inside Orchard is 100% supported by its subscribers.