Rafael Pavon, Creative Director at UNIT9 puts the headset we’ve all been dreaming about for the last decade through its paces.
The Apple Vision Pro arrived at the UNIT9 offices last month, and our team has been using it extensively - testing its limits, exploring all available apps, and even prototyping some new ones. We suspected this beautiful piece of hardware would change the game - however, in its current state, we can’t help but feel that the Vision Pro is a bit like a shiny new toy begging for a playdate with creativity. This may sound off-putting, yet it’s somewhat expected: Apple has provided us with an incredible platform that will help shape the spatial computing medium for the next decade. But great content takes blood, sweat, tears and time. A lot of time.
Let's step back a little to understand the context better. Imagine if Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company, had been around to see this. He supposedly once said that if he’d asked his customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse, not a car. Though there's no hard evidence he ever uttered those words, the sentiment hits the nail on the head: people often can't articulate their desires for future innovations because they're stuck in the context of what they already know. That's kind of where we're at with the Vision Pro. It's this incredible piece of technology with a profoundly satisfying user experience, showing us a whole new world of possibilities that we can’t even articulate yet.
From a hardware perspective, the headset is a dream, boasting the best video passthrough and eye-tracking we've seen. It's as close to magic as tech can get right now. Yet, here we are, scratching our heads in the Vision Pro subreddit, swapping tales of awe but also in slight disappointment. The potential of what it can do is incredible, but as users, we’ve not been given much that allows us to see it in action right now. It's like being handed the keys to a spaceship but only having enough fuel to pop to the local store.
But here's the thing—this dance between new tech and finding its true purpose isn't new to us. When movies first came out, they were just filmed stage plays. Then, radio shows turned into the first TV broadcasts. Remember flash web brochures, anyone? It took a while for these mediums to shake off their predecessors' shadows and carve out their unique voices. Immersive creators have been pushing their medium for over a decade. We've been laying the groundwork, exploring every nook and cranny of what it means to truly immerse someone in a digital world. However, the content available for the Apple Vision Pro is still not standing on the shoulders of any giants. We're back in 2015 when a dinosaur breaking the fourth wall or a floating calculator was deemed enough to impress audiences.
Still, the Apple Vision Pro certainly marks an impressive leap into what feels like the next era of computing. But the real wizardry? It won’t just be in the hardware but in what we do with it. It’ll be in the experiences we dream up, the ways we decide to hack this technology to do things we couldn't before. Our real-world surroundings can be integrated into compelling digital storytelling; educational experiences can become even more effective through immersion; body movements and gestures can take fun and play to the next level. This new headset, far from isolating, can actually help us connect people in more meaningful ways.
The good news is that, of all the challenges I’ve ever faced as a Creative Director in the immersive industry, figuring out how to create new experiences is one of the most beautiful because it fosters innovation, amplifies unique perspectives and leaves invaluable lessons behind.
Think of it as an essential step on a much longer journey. As we look to the future, there's a tangible buzz in the air. Almost every piece of the puzzle is in place: the passthrough, the materials, the operating system, the computing power, the gesture paradigm and hopefully, the audience. We finally have everything we asked for to discover what truly sets spatial computing apart. The Vision Pro has laid the groundwork, but the next giant leaps will come from the community around it. From developers to creators, it's on us to explore, play, and ultimately forge the experiences that will make spatial computing an indispensable part of our lives.
The Vision Pro might not have all the answers yet, but it offers an incredible opening question, asking us what we dream of doing. Just like the shifts from theatre to film, web to mobile, we're at the dawn of something special and even, excuse the pun, spatial; a moment where we're learning to see beyond the technology and instead at the experiences it can afford. So, let's give it some time. I, for one, can't wait to start experimenting with where it can take us.
