To begin, Gurman states that “internally, the development of the first version of the operating system that will run on the mixed-reality headset codenamed Oak is wrapping up”. As a result, it “should be ready for the new hardware next year,” according to Gurman.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman goes over some of the areas Apple is focusing on as the potential 2023 release date approaches in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter.
While Apple has reduced hiring in response to broader economic uncertainty. The company is still looking for people to join teams working on the mixed-reality headset and other AR/VR technologies. Apple continues to make changes to the team working on the headset, which is known as Apple’s “Technology Development Group.”
According to Apple’s job postings, the company wants to bring third-party apps to its mixed-reality headset. Engineers are needed to “work on App Intents framework to help design and implement solutions” for Shortcuts, and other features.
Perhaps most notably, one Technology Development Group job listing seeks engineers to work on developing “tools and frameworks to enable connected experiences in a 3D mixed-reality world”. According to Gurman, this sounds like “a virtual environment similar to the metaverse.”
Bloomberg claims that Scott’s “involvement could suggest some health applications for the headset” based on his medical/robotics technology work. Apple has also transferred engineers from other projects to the headset team. Yaniv Gur, a senior director of engineering at Apple, is one such example.
Apple is expected to announce some form of its mixed-reality headset in 2023, but it is expected to be expensive. The first version will most likely not be aimed at mass consumers, but rather at “pro” users and developers.
