With the launch of Vision Pro, Voices of VR podcast host Kent Bye recently interviewed an XR insider who has been in the industry for over a decade.
Bertrand Nepveu talks about his beginnings as the founder of VRVANA, a startup focused on building MR headsets. One of the unique elements developed by the company was the physical controls on the headset, creating a seamless transition between a fully immersive VR view and a perspective AR view – most headsets at the time were either strictly AR or strictly VR, but not both. Apple had acquired VRVANA in 2017 for $30 million**, and founder Bertrand Nepveu was employed by Apple from 2017-2021.
As we know it today, VRVana's VR AR view control has become an integral part of the Vision Pro, the so-called Digital Knob.
Although Nepveu left Apple before the Vision Pro was finally launched, he talked about his work history around the headset. Given Apple's usual secrecy, he can't reveal much, but he did share some interesting things.
Starting with Apple's culture, Nepveu considered it "very militarized" and that all managers had to go to an internal "manager university" to learn how to do things "the Apple way."
He joked that Apple has "three gods" inside it, and that they must be satisfied in order to successfully build a product that goes to market
The god of human-machine interfaces: how products work and what must be intuitive.
The god of industrial design: the look and feel of a product.
The God of Legal Affairs: Mandatory secrecy, even internal secrecy.
Nepveu says his job at Apple is primarily "perspective correction, which is about making sure the perspective view of the headset looks correct and comfortable." However, he said it was difficult to secure resources for his work because internal secrecy practices meant he had a hard time telling colleagues what he was building when trying to recruit them.
Nepveu also talked about the design decisions that led to the Vision Pro's appearance and ergonomics. Apple is clearly aiming for the look of "ski goggles" because they feel that it is more socially acceptable than something that looks more futuristic.
Nepveu said that at one point during the development of the Vison Pro, the headset was considered for a rear battery, which would have created a better balance and possibly a more comfortable headband overall. But someone vetoed the idea, perhaps because it seemed too bulky. In addition, Apple does not want to give up basic materials such as aluminum and glass.
At the time Nepveu left Apple, the headset "should ship in 2019." When 2019, 2021, and 2022 came and went without any announcements, he wasn't sure if the Vision Pro would ship.
Finally, the Vision Pro was released in 2023 and shipped early this year. When he finally tried the finished product himself, Nepveu cried as he recalled his efforts from being a struggling startup founder to seeing himself in Vision Pro.
Nepveu had been with the company for a few years, and he felt that Apple was structurally unique. While this made some things difficult internally, he insisted that no other company could launch a product like the Vision Pro.
To that end, he speculated that Samsung and Google — which are working together on an upcoming XR headset — must be in panic mode after seeing what Apple makes. Nepveu says that while they can build great hardware, it's "not easy" for these companies to build an intuitive end-to-end product, given their organizational structure.