The “Apple Reality” headset “just doesn’t make sense to me as an Apple product,” according to Michael Gartenberg, a former Apple senior director of worldwide marketing, quoted by the Wall Street Journal.

Gartenberg, who helped oversee Apple’s international marketing efforts and left the company in 2016, said that Tim Cook prefers products that appeal to a mass market, while the headset is likely to be more attractive to enthusiasts.

“It just doesn’t make sense to me as an Apple product,” said Michael Gartenberg, a former senior director of worldwide product marketing at Apple who left in 2016. He said he thinks Mr. Cook prefers to sell products that appeal to a mass market, and the headset is likely to appeal to enthusiasts.

WALL STREET JOURNAL

The headset market has generally struggled to gain mainstream adoption, with bulky and unintuitive hardware, the lack of developer support or killer apps outside of gaming, and high prices keeping the majority of consumers away.

While mass production of Apple’s headset isn’t planned to start until later in the year, shipments for 2023 are only projected to be in the 200,000 to 300,000 unit range, according to Apple analyst Ming-chi Kuo, far lower than shipments for iPhone or Apple Watch in their debut years.

According to insiders who have been a part of its development, Apple’s headset is said to have capabilities far beyond the competition in terms of both performance and immersion. The rumored $3,000 price tag is likely due to its advanced features, including micro OLED displays, dual processors, and a carbon fiber frame.

The headset will reportedly use an external battery pack that connects to it via the headset’s proprietary magnetic locking connector, according to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman. The wired battery pack will need to be held or stored in a user’s pocket when the headset is in use, causing concerns the headset’s experience is less polished and premium than expected from a high-end Apple product.

Apple’s headset is expected to be revealed during the WWDC keynote on June 5, with a public release allegedly planned for Fall at the earliest.