“Apple can do no wrong.” This was a mantra that seemed to permeate the first two decades of the century, when innovation after innovation continued to spill out of Steve Jobs like a golden faucet. Tim Cook is no Steve Jobs.
While I’ll still defend the tech giant to the gills for their operating system and the quality of their products, Apple has been more about iteration and innovation in recent years. Indeed, I can’t remember the last time I was genuinely shocked by a new Apple announcement… until last week… but not for the right reasons.
Apple, you see, were always going to enter the VR/AR marketplace at some point. It’s amazing it’s taken them this long, to be honest. But in my opinion, they really shuls have waited because what transpired last week when they announced their $3,500 mixed reality ‘Vision Pro’ headset at their annual developers’ conference in California was a major stumble for several reasons.
A little longer in the oven
Let’s be clear, the Vision Pro looks incredible from a purely aesthetic perspective. But then, when does Apple ever release anything that doesn’t look magnificently sculptured? The real folly was in making such a big and public deal out of something that was never really meant for the general public.
It’s not the Apple Vision, after all, it’s the Apple Vision Pro. Like the Microsoft HoloLens before it, the Vision Pro is a device aimed at professionals. The idea, presumably, is for these pro users to spend the next 3-5 years building an infrastructure for the device that will allow it to launch successfully as a consumer product further down the line.
That’s fine, but then why kick up a massive song and dance about a product 99% of the market will turn their noses up at? You could legitimately buy a decent used car for the same amount of money as a Vision Pro so, aside for the ultra-wealthy, the only ones likely to invest in this device are those that intend on monetising it in some way.
Let’s not forget the potential
Putting aside the ridiculous price and all the blowback for a second, is there really much potential for creatives in the Apple Vision Pro? Of course, there is. For years, VR and the Metaverse has been rendered largely inaccessible by bulky, ugly headsets that needed to be connected to a computer and locked you off from “the real world” by design.
The Vision Pro appears to be the first device of its kind that doesn’t isolate you from the world. So, if you’re in the middle of designing something, you’re not locked away in your own little world anymore. For design teams, this could be a legitimate game-changer.
For a world moving towards remote work, it also opens the possibility to create a completely flexible office space. Your hotel room could legitimately become a complete duplication of your home office, for example. But all these innovations are unlikely to reveal themselves until developers have had a few years to really play with the Vision OS.
Another opinion
Kevin Wang, Chief Product Officer at Braze:
“Overall, I'm optimistic about AR experiences on first principles: Humans are inherently visual, and we're evolved to actively engage with our entire field of view – AR could help us use our senses more naturally than an iPhone or even a widescreen monitor.
“Though, I am less bullish, conceptually, on the Metaverse, or at least I think that it needs to be proven out. Personally, I'm more excited about AR applications in media, gaming, heavy industry, or even defence – all fields that can be experienced individually, but where the limits of a small screen have kept us from fully maximizing our immersion.
“I also typically view betting against Apple as a losing proposition – I wouldn't count them out, even with a massive price tag on their new device.”
The start of a journey
To his credit, Cook described the Vision Pro as “the beginning of a journey that will bring a new dimension to powerful personal technology” and that should be the key takeaway here. Yes, it’s a nice product but it’s the start of something, not a finished concept.
Personally, I think they pitched it wrong. This shouldn’t have been a major announcement; it should have been quietly dropped to a handful of relevant developers. Because, when this thing is actually launched, all the internet is going to remember is the memes and it’s not going to matter how groundbreaking and incredible the tech is.
Still, give it 3-5 years and the world might actually be ready for the Apple Vision 2.0, perhaps packaged alongside the iPhone 20. For now, however, it’s still very much a proof of concept for a future we’ve all been told was “right ahead of us” for nearly a decade now.
That carrot, however, seems to be always moving tentatively just out of reach. Funny that, right?
