“Apple’s Vision Pro Is a $3,500 Ticket to Nowhere, Janus Rose’s latest article for Vice is headlined, with the sub-headline, “A decade after Facebook bought Oculus, VR still has no appeal except as an expensive novelty toy.”
As a rule of thumb, the tech from dystopian cyberpunk novels in the 80s and 90s manifests in our reality in one of two ways: either as horrifying weapons of police state oppression, or expensive novelty bullshit for rich people.
After more than a decade, it seems clear that virtual reality is one of the latter cases. What began with Facebook’s $2 billion purchase of headset startup Oculus in 2014 — and its subsequently ill-advised VR pivot and rebranding as Meta — has led us to Apple’s announcement of its new Vision Pro, an augmented reality headset which is set to retail at a typically-Apple starting price of $3,500.
Revealed at the very end of the company’s recent press conference, the VR/AR “spatial computing” device is less notable for its features and more for its shocking inability—or perhaps refusal—to read the room. Large companies like Meta have repeatedly failed to make a compelling use case for VR over the past decade, despite massive hardware budgets and hype campaigns singularly obsessed with the idea of building an online Metaverse that no one wants to live in.
MacDailyNews Take: See, because Mark Zuckerberg, whose main claims to fame are stealing a social network and abuing it to repeatedly trample his feckless users’ privacy in order to line his own pockets (until Apple put an end to that), failed at something, Apple will fail, too. You know, like iPad after years of Microsoft failing with tablets.
So if not for awkwardly embodying legless avatars, what — and who — is Vision Pro for?
The earliest depictions of VR and AR devices in science fiction were exciting because they came at a time when the internet was untamed, and the line between the digital and physical worlds seemed to blur for the first time. In our current reality, that distinction has long since ceased to exist, and the internet is largely controlled by the whims of giant tech companies and their captive platforms. Apple’s new device might briefly revive interest in the idea, but after a decade of stagnation, it’s going to be hard-pressed to get anyone to strap in besides the profoundly wealthy and bored.
MacDailyNews Take: Just getting this one into the database for future use.
With Apple Vision Pro we are witnessing the birth of spatial computing.
Don’t be this guy: "The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a ‘mouse.’ There is no evidence that people want to use these things."
— John C. Dvorakhttps://t.co/dp3Y9avlmc #VisionPro #Apple— MacDailyNews (@MacDailyNews) June 6, 2023
Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
It’s not expensive for what it does… Much more and much better than existing AR/VR devices. And there are plenty of enthusiastic customers willing and able to afford one to be among the early adopters who help shape how it’s used for follow-on “SE” versions that are better and more affordable.
Where to we begin…
“John Dvorak is advising Apple to cease all efforts on the iPhone, citing the mobile handset business as a ‘buzz saw waiting to chop up newbies.’ With Apple’s image as a ‘hot company that can do no wrong’ on the line, Dvorak warns that the extremely fad-prone marketplace for cell phones will quickly turn the ‘hot’ iPhone passe’. Unless the company has several new models in the pipeline to release after the original offering, he says, they’re likely to fail. ‘If it’s smart it will call the iPhone a “reference design” and pass it to some suckers to build with someone else’s marketing budget. Then it can wash its hands of any marketplace failures.'”
Commenting on the first Apple Store: “Apple will turn the lights off within two years and will have a very bad and expensive experience.” David Goldstein, president of growth-strategy consulting firm Channel Marketing Corp
Writing for Fast Company, Mark Wilson says ”You Guys Realize The Apple Watch Is Going To Flop, Right?”
Often heard comments when the Mac was introduced:
“If I was in the market for a personal computer today and wanted only the current functionality available on the MacIntosh, I would sooner buy a Kaypro or a Chameleon and take the money I saved and buy a printer.
I find Apple’s marketing approach (though superbly timed and coordinated) to be insulting to my intelligence. “You don’t have to memorize all those commands”. So WHAT’S WRONG with memorizing stuff? Is it really that difficult to learn new things?
Apple is taking the typical American marketing approach: create a need where it didn’t exist before, then come up with a bunch of features to meet it. Tell everybody how stupid they are and how difficult it is to use computers. Make everything look really dark. Then, voila! spring the answer — the mouse!!
Really, you need a mouse with a word processor or spreadsheet like you need automatic transmission. It’s a nice feature to have but you can learn to get along without it. My question is. Is the extra functionality worth the extra price? I’m afraid that this message won’t get home to consumers amidst all the glamour and hoopla.”
Apple is changing the world once again. It just takes some people a little while to understand what is happening.
Here is the reason why most people and companies are not innovators, they simply lack vision. Most of us are like the man who told Henry Ford, all he wanted was a faster horse.
Just wait for what the software developers are going to put out for the VisionPro. Hang on, things are about to get exciting.
Do I have to spell it out? The Jeffrey Epstein types; the Hollyweirds; the billionaires of every stripe? When they’re bored with life what do some of them do? I had tech friends in Silicon Valley who told me in the early 2000s that the biggest volume usage on the internet was….. PORN!!!
Now you know who the wealthy users will be. The Apple app store may not sell apps for it but the innovators will make it happen. Imagine, they can experience anything they want and no jail time.
SO OFF CIT … way offf…. ……. A real touch is not even in the horizon in the digital realm…
The BORED BILLIONAIRES . have the resources to what they want in flesh and skin ..10 times over in a day…if they like to….
Your Epstine angle serves only to the depraved perverts! .
If you look at various markets, such as Architecture, or Engineering, you see how this is no toy, but will need the CAD software and such. Imagine and Architectural firm heading downtown to a vacant lot, or old building space, and 15 or so from the firm and their clients all put on their Vision Pro’s. In front of them is the new building they are proposing. A few artists have their iPad Pro’s out and will do a bit of sketching, changing, marking up the building. They’ll switch to another design on the fly and the customer can be wow’d or horrified and make some changes and notes on the design they just couldn’t envision, but standing right in front of the 30 story building, it’s now come to life and evident what they like and/or do not.
CAT scan a tumor in someone’s back. Then overlay the scan with the paitent, and their tissue is now color-coded, with the Dr’s notes on a few areas of concern, and where to cut and work.
A Mechanical Engineering team can’t make some spaces work in their current design. They get around an area, and pull up the design, and look at different angles and discuss moving components and she metal fabrication to suddenly make it work perfectly.
NOTE: This is a Vision Pro. This would indicate a lower-cost unit without built-in speakers and perhaps some lower-end materials by a bit. Vision Pro launches in early 2024 in the US only, via Apple only, and then branches out to other countries and regions in 2025.
In two-years from launch, early 2026, Apple is likely to have Apple Vision. Same original chipset, no built-in speakers, etc… for $1,499. The Vision Pro will now have an integrated all-in-one processor, the “Vx” let’s call it, and much better performance, battery life, and at the same weight, the battery is now integrated into the goggles. Now $2,499
Massive sales uptick, and Apple starts developing markets and software with their developers for this and everyone plays catch up for 5-7 years…
This is a slow, deliberate roll-out. Apple’s provided many ideas for the technology, and like Apple Watch, it has a space, now users and developers will fill it. Apple Watch has become more of a health fitness tool than anything else, but that’s not necessarily how it started. That was a small part of it, with other abilities. It matured and the tech found a home. Same will likely take place for the VisionOS and various hardware.
Well said. It may be a novelty for now, but the real killer apps haven’t even been conceived yet (and may well be in the business/professional market rather than consumer).
The killer app start with a P
Too bad that’s the genre of Apps sure to be denied entry into the App Store. 😛
There have been lots of good ideas like this for years. The Vision Pro is the first device to make them possible. It was interesting listening to the comments of those who could test it yesterday. The text displayed was crisp and easy to read. The hand gestures worked really well. Eye tracking was excellent. Latency was really low.
Some are complaining that the price is too high. It is actually amazing that they made the price this low, considering how much you get.
Wonder how well the eye tracking works for those of us with hard contact lenses. I’ve had many problems with eye tracking systems in the past.
Nicely done……I believe this product will be world changing………
Did Tim use the term AR or VR once? Apple wants to define and own its own platform.
this is a really cool device. price is really high.
it’s too bad it cost so much. adoption would be slower than if it were 399.00
make 3d movies, replace your Mac, play video games, watch movies, they put some real thought into this.a screen to show your eyes. track eye movement, hands to select, this was a good job. yes and maybe even worth the price. heavy on the head, but cool.
I’m shocked at how many people are freaking out over the price. Think about what it will eliminate. You won’t need TV’s in three different rooms in the house or constantly buy bigger ones every few years. Gaming console makers should be shacking in their boots. How about all the companies that make HDMI cables, monitor cables, power cables? Keyboard/mice manufacturers. Hell, desks, chairs, or any office furniture or hardware. Take all the things I have purchased for my office or home office and $3500 seems cheap.
Two points:
5,000 patents. Gonna be hard for Dell (or whoever) to rip off the functionality, but you KNOW the other headset manufacturers will be retooling their factories to make their products look like the VisionPro.
For everyone bitching about the price, it’s HALF of what the original Mac sold for (accounting for inflation). Yes, $3,500 is a lot for a consumer electronics product, but it’s with Apple zero-percent financing, it’ll be sold as $99.99 a month for 36 months.
I agree with one of the earlier comments — that the reports from people at Cupertino who actually USED the product were genuinely blown away. And reading what the OS is capable of, I’m blown away too.
I’m sure of those 5000 patents there will be a good number challenged. The challengers are just waiting for a significant number of units and sales to be made before submitting court cases.
I would wear it one if were attached to a Roman legionary helmet.
It’s called Vision Pro not Vision Play. It’s a professional device. Thanks, Bobby, to describe some of the professional usage possibilities of Vision Pro. I totally agree. But it’s so interesting to see how a lot of people react about the price. If they want something cheaper, they can purchase VR glasses from Sony, Meta or Microsoft. And they will get what they pay for. These are gaming devices, nothing else. Vision Pro also comes with Apple’s app store. And like for the iPhone and Apple Watch give it time to find out what the killer usages and apps are. The first iPhone was cool, no doubt but it took some years to really unleash all its power.
Will I buy a Vision Pro when it comes out? – Probably not. And it’s not that I can’t afford it. Right now, I don’t have a use case for me other than watching a movie or playing a game. But let’s see what Apple and developers come up with in the future. It will only get better. Give it time.
IMAX at home! Beyond hundreds of other use cases…
Immersive 360 x2. content ….
Beyond, a whole Paradigm shift in Computing… Entertainment…. Connectivity and THERAPY ! ………. to me thats worth way more than the price!
Click bait to Nth degree and he knows it! Yet so many indulge!!!🤦♂️
MY MONEY IS ON THE TABLE … as soon as Apple is willing to take it in exchange!
This is a first step in its scope to a whole new Paradigm Shift… ….
Next 5 years … between hardware and AI software, imo, will render a world that even gen Z and most in Gen Alpha will find bewildering! If they are still around!? ……
It reminds me of this guy, back in the old days, boss of a very big company, who had a big laugh when Apple came up with this “stupid idea” to make a phone! 😵💫
🤙🏼🍷
Do people want to do their computing with a facemask on? Who knows? I sure don’t. But will they drive massive traffic to their stores to see/feel the magic? YES.
The headband comes in only one color. Sad.
Wait for it… 😁
If your biggest concern is the headband color, start saving your money because Apple will produce multiple colors of headbands, just like the Watch.
On the day of launch a third party accessories company accounted 5 diffeeenr colored bands, so… yeah.
We’ve been here before: Second Life. No amount of pixels, cameras, UX, etc., fundamentally changes it. Mediating human contact through a face mask? Didn’t we just live through that?
Oh, about the iPhone: the market was already proven when Apple entered it. They saw a better, different way.
We’ve been using VR headsets in training environments for some years now, and one of the problems that they’ve all had is temporal lag. This lag often causes nausea with the wearers and limits what we can do in the VR environment.
Apple has claimed “no” lag. While zero is notionally impossible, cutting milliseconds off of this should significantly improve things – – and to that end, a $3500 headset isn’t that much of an expense vs how much everything else costs us.
Does anyone actually read past “Vice?”
If you keep practicing someday you’ll be able to read big words too.
The connectivity to existing apps will make this (and the follow on versions) indispensible.. not for watching movies… but go with me for a second into the fuselage of a Boeing 777 or the construction of a ship, or any other large scale multi-team manufacturing that is resistant to robotic inroads. You put on the vision pro 2 (lighter, hot swappable 4 hour battery pack, ruggedized) and as you look around you can connect to a variety of databases. That bolt? It is part number 2003-444 and it was last tightened to 15 by John W on the 15th of March at 3pm. He was waiting on part number 2003-445 it says in his notes and it was added on March 16th at 10am. The airframe is now 47% complete and there are 18 days left in the build. The stabilizers for the center supports are in bin 18 which is 200 feet to the west of your present location and are scheduled to be installed by the fuselage team on Tuesday. ALL this and the history of the construction of anything noted and stored by connecting these to databases using machine learning so data entry is essentially automatic. Same holds true for the makeover of a building.. the architectural renderings are mapped to the existing structure allowing more than just a walk through. You will see where people would stand, where machines would be located, and have a working digital version of a plant all set for construction and the greatest efficiency. We waste an enormous amount of time in trial and error and in the conception of designs with real world counterparts. BEING IN the space makes it a human experience…The cost for companies is honestly negligible vs the power it offers. It’s next to nothing. This thing is a visual workstation on your head. Did I mention it can shoot 3-D movies too? Right now Steven Soderbergh makes full on films using the iphone. When Steve introduced it.. there’s no way he could have imagined that use case. Same for the Vision Pro. Smart people, smart solutions will be layered on this device and as each iteration gets more embedded others will come to grasp what Apple is talking about. The HUMAN component of computing. More than any other device they’ve made.. this is intuitive, largely lacking lots of knobs and buttons and will provide an avenue to ideas and purposes we can scarcely imagine.
Will be sold out on the first day