Great Products

Great products like the iPhone or ChatGPT have a few shared characteristics. One, they make humans far more useful. Two, after being around for only a short time, people say, “hasn’t it always been this way?” In other words, it was so impactful that it felt like it fulfilled a need they had for a long time. And third, the technology anticipates a human need before a human knows they have it. In those instances, people are extremely impressed by the product, as if its creator read their minds or connected with their deepest desires.

When it comes to the computer products of the future, what will they be? During the outset of personal computers, many people were afraid to use them because they couldn’t see any moving parts—instead it was many electrons zooming around to do tasks invisible to the naked eye. That was just an another example of people fearing the unknown. But, when people like Steve Jobs made the computer usable and useful for anyone—even friendly to people (hence the mouth-looking disk slot), people realized that they must have this technology. That must came from a deep need for productivity that was finally answered by the personal computer. It also came from a deep need for self expression, because personal computers allowed people to express themselves artistically thanks to the liberal arts-infused vision of Steve Jobs.

Yesterday I experienced a rare moment when someone naturally tells me a need that they have. I was sitting in a white-noise-filled conference room with Dr. Overbey at UATX, who said that Meta’s VR headset did not have enough content on it.

Immediately after hearing this, I was transported back to watching a clip of Steve Jobs talking about the way his programmers would have been poets and writers, and computers were a way to express themselves. He called his employees “hippies”, not “nerds”.

What if Steve Jobs’ liberal arts-infused vision, i.e. perspective, for personal computers can be applied to the VR headset? I don’t think customer needs should go ignored. I also think that VR hardware manufacturers like Apple and Meta have become too large and complacent, similar to Xerox before Apple overthrew it. The reason why is because they are too large to completely reinvent themselves, and a technology company must do that as the market evolves. And how is the market evolving? Toward AR, but also a product that allows for a deeper, more “immersive” experience with useful software products. This could be a great opportunity for creating VR liberal arts-infused content, such as tools of self expression, with the field of VR companies happy to disseminate that content, and finally a company which makes VR hardware for a harmonious design. What if people could seamlessly design 3D worlds?