Apple’s Vision Pro mixed reality headset is an incredible piece of technology. It’s gorgeous and powerful, and it delivers nearly unrivaled virtual and augmented reality experiences. It’s also a huge bet for Apple, possibly the Cupertino tech giant’s greatest gamble since attempting to resurrect its Mac company in 1998.
According to speculations, Apple may be a little more than a month away from distributing the first-generation Vision Pro headsets in Apple retail stores around the country (if not the world). According to Bloomberg tech journalist Mark Gurman, an industry prognosticator and trusted leaker, Apple plans to train employees on how to use Vision Pro soon after the New Year, and then have those employees instruct additional employees when the headsets arrive in shops before the end of January.
That information, if true, is not shocking. Apple has always stated that the Vision Pro will be available in 2024, and based on the slow drip of information and hands-on experiences we’ve seen this year (I’ve now had two: one right after WWDC and one just last month), Apple is attempting to prepare not only its retail teams, but also the media that will attempt to explain this new Apple device to consumers.
Here’s the deal. As stunning as Apple’s debut VR/AR headset is, it bears little resemblance to anything else in the Apple product line. Apple must train those who will market the device not just on what Apple Vision Pro can accomplish, but also on its price, the necessary customisation, and even why there is an external battery.
That is the cost
I understand that Apple’s goods are normally more expensive than competitors, but the Vision Pro is on a different level.
$3,499 is nearly the price of a strong mid-tier M3 Pro MacBook Pro 14-inch. It costs more than twice as much as the most costly and greatest iPhone. It’s a deposit on a great automobile. I’m sure Apple doesn’t expect to sell millions of these headsets in the first year. It’s possible that it’s imagining a group of well-heeled early adopters and Vision Pro evangelists. They could build the framework for excitement about the predicted considerably less expensive Vision Pro models, which are expected to come in 2025.
The issue of Spatial Computing
Apple’s Vision Pro aims to usher in an altogether new type of digital experience known as “Spatial Computing.” Simply expressed, this means calculating in three dimensions. Objects are not just displayed on a 2D screen in front of your face. They are everywhere, close and far. It’s a development language that Apple’s app partners are only now learning.
It’s a new interface frontier for consumers. The perplexity could be compared to entering the computing world upside down, but without the dangerous elements. As I’ve noted in my hands-on experiences, Apple does a wonderful job of making all of this intuitive, but there’s no avoiding the learning curve, no matter how oblique the angle.
Even while Apple has released new product form factors and interface paradigms, nothing as dramatic as the Vision Pro has been introduced. There is a lot of difference between pulling an iPhone from your pocket and wearing a headset that covers your eyes. Consumers will feel as if they are entering the unknown no matter what.
Apple’s first customized products
There has also never been a consumer-grade Apple product that required tweaking before it can be used by many customers. Vision Pro is designed to accommodate prescription lenses for eyeglass wearers like me, but you can’t use it without them. In other words, after you pay for Vision Pro, you may have to pay for the appropriate Zeiss prescription lenses and, I’m guessing, wait a week or so for those to arrive before you can finally take home your expensive Vision Pro headset.
Unpacking the battery
The battery pack is the final component. It’s as appealing as the rest of the Vision Pro headset, but it’s also like a strange vestigial tail that all other Apple products have shed for centuries.
I’ve been wondering why Apple chose to place the battery pack outside of the headset. This would ostensibly allow you to effortlessly switch from a drained power pack to a charged-up new one, though there’s no indication that the Vision Pro will come with more than one pack.
The most obvious reason is that Apple sought to make the headset’s weight as light as possible in order to improve wearability and comfort. Still, when you’re wearing the headset and that little silver pack is sitting on the couch next to you, you could be thinking if you should hold it or put it in your pocket. There is no avoiding the cord that will connect that metal slab to the headset. I stood up once while wearing the headset, and I believe I or someone else was holding the battery. Most of your usage will be sitting, so you might not notice.
Still, having an external battery back on an Apple product is unusual, and it indicates a problem that Apple may not be able to readily resolve.
calculating the risk
All of this adds up to a decent product. It remains the most exciting thing Apple has released in years. It’s also not a clear home run. I may enjoy it, but will typical consumers who are not accustomed to cutting-edge technology and prices? Will they be willing to pay thousands of dollars on a product that they cannot use right away due to customization? Will they find it as simple as Apple thinks and be excited by the possibilities of Spatial Computing? Will the incredible spatial photography dispel any other concerns? Maybe.
I’m not sure. All I know is that we are rapidly approaching Apple’s most dangerous product risk arena in decades. It’s anyone’s guess what will happen in January.
1 Comment