Yeah I get that. So why is everyone happy clapping? The benefit for the consumer is that you can buy the same headset with a different name badge on in a different colour, which may or may not have slightly different specs?
not at all you have it the wrong way around. I am happy personally because Meta have and always have had the best ecosystem (for VR) and for the moment at least have the best controller tracking, as well as hand tracking second only to apple . This is true both for PCVR and standalone..... however they havent had the best PCVR hardware, other headsets are technically better (although my quest pro is decent).
By meta opening up their OS hopefully it will mean a better choice of hardware so as a buyer i can have both the best VR platform AND a really high end VR headset to go with it.......
As a feature suite I am sure there is more they can add, but they already support hand tracking, eye tracking, they have the best compensation for when frame rate drops (Asynchronous space warp), you can pin 2D apps in your VR space (Oculus did this before anyone else) they have a far more adaptable VR space mapping (I cant believe after all this time the steam guardian system or what ever it is called has never evolved).
Meta are also the only company really still investing a ton of cash into software development....... yes it is standalone (which sucks) but its better than valve - yes half life alyx maybe the best VR game on the market but that just makes it even more frustrating.......... valve can make great vr games they just dont................ So if you want the meta exclusives you need a device that can access the meta store.
nothing is guaranteed but the meta store has a better chance of still being here in 5 years time than the pico store or the viveport or what ever pimax may do with their standalone so the meta store is a better place to buy your games.
Despite the above i am no meta fanboy but their software is just a cut above. Apple will probably get something great too and already edge it in some areas, but i have no interest in an apple device, not when games are my main motivation for VR, all the rest is icing.