Technology

I can't imagine it'll be all that widespread at $3500 dollars.

AR/VR intended for use in public spaces will never take off for as long as the user has to strap an expensive and bulky headset to their face. Things will get interesting once we work out how to get that into the form factor of a pair of regular glasses and bring the price down to under half what Apple is asking now.

Will people still be pariahs if they walk around with AR gear like gargoyles? Will VR still cause VR sickness? I don't know how apple plans to solve those problems, though I suppose they'll make a go at it.

doubtful, its neither a good AR device or a good VR device. They tried too hard to walk the middle of the road and ended up sacrificing the adavantages of both, this will be discovered over time.

You'll know its falling apart when you start seeing or hearing about either DiY or products around adding VR sensors to your room so your motion and posture can be transmitted accurately. Or when someone almost dies trying to walk down the street with this thing.

Also still way too big and ugly for a mass market wearable. People don't want these, hollywood does.

VR hasn't caught on as much as I thought it would. Using VR/Augmented reality is a hard thing to do for a long period of time. I get really motion sick from my PSVR after about 20 minutes. I know the tech has come a long way since then, but there's some pretty significant hurdles to overcome between here and mass adoption. That's even ignoring the buy in factor, which is a non-starter north of say $1k (maybe $1,500 if it's more like an actual standalone computer).

I am really, really looking forward to AR in general, and I like to think of myself as a proponent and early adopter of new tech.

That being said, I don't think we'll see this gen of Vision take off. In fact, I'm kind of surprised at Apple for even releasing anything. They usually swoop in on newly established tech, do it better, then claim they invented it. Maybe that's what they're doing here, but it still feels too early. Until the gear is the size of large-frame sunglasses, I don't think it'll be adopted by the masses. Maybe their relegation of this product to the livingroom and workspace will help to prove me wrong.

v1 of Vision Pro? Probably not.

Once the tech has matured and the price point comes down? Probably.

This is a relatively new product category so it’s tough to predict, but if you’re going solely off of Apple’s track record the last 20 years, the first couple of iterations will be enthusiast/luxury products that will drive interest and create demand, and then will become more commonplace. iPod, iPhone, Apple Watch all followed this lifecycle for the most part.

Like other headsets its too bulky. Sunglasses are easy on/off but this and other AR headsets (hololens) are completely incompatible with most people's life. At work its going to mess up hair and makeup, and no one wants tight fitting goggle marks on their face. The Google Glass form factor was ideal but obviously the tech isn't there and the tradeoffs were too high. Maybe AR will be socially acceptable some day but vision pro is too early imo.

I think if anybody can get VR to be adopted by the masses it would be Apple. However, at this price I just don't think it's possible for the majority of people, even Apple Fanboys, to be able to afford.

If they had released this for $1500 I think that price point would be a lot more enticing for people, especially those who haven't tried VR before.

Yes but give it a few years for the price to come down, and for kinks in the technology to be worked out. The price would need to come down significantly though. They can’t compete with Meta at the price point they are at.

Yes but not for headsets, I think we’ll see more adoption for driving, where the windshield and side windows have a secondary layer overlayed on the glass so that navigation and other hud elements can be thrown up there, while maintaining high visibility. It’ll probably double as decent tinting as well. Idk tho lol

Didn't we already go through all.of this when Google glasses came out? People were getting their asses kicked for wearing them in public because people didn't know if they were being recorded or not. It just seems like another instance of Apple taking something that has existed for years and pretend they invented it.

At some point, yes. The gen 1 is clunky but over time, with Apples r&d, the design will be refined and the price will come down. Imo apple wouldn't release cutting edge tech like this without believing fully in it.

mass adoption? i doubt it. but it definitely feels like it's already being taken more seriously than, say, Google Glass was back when. also, if any company was going to break through the stigma (for lack a better word) associated with devices like this, Apple would be one of the first on my list.

It's just the way things are going, the problem at the moment is form factor but the end game is to have an ar device that looks as much like a standard pair of glasses as possible.

I'm old enough to remember what everyone said about the iPhone when it released and I was one of those who scoffed at it, I was using a Nokia maybe the n95 at the time and it could surf the Internet and do everything the iPhone could do and it had a front camera and a keyboard. I thought the iPhone to be an over priced gimmick. Needless to say I was very wrong. Apple have the money and patience to keep iterating on the vision pro to make it cheaper smaller and more accessible. I think it's great to have them bring so much attention to this space.

It's a Apple product so regardless of the price or product it'll probably be normalized.

I'll go against all the comment here and say yes. It looks like apple is delivering a fantastic piece of hardware, and some basic solid features software wise. But the price point also means the user base will be more likely to buy expensive applications, compared to say the Quest. Some predictions

• Next iPhone will come with dual camera that allow to take 3D scenery, that can only fully be appreciated in the headset.
• The developer ecosystem will be super active. We know that's going to be a line of product for at least 10 years, and being the first on the market in your segment can be critical.
• The price point is of course really high, but a year or so after they'll announce the Apple Vision (not pro). This will remove some of the decorative feature, such as the outward facing screen that shows your eyes etc. and reduce the price point to maybe 2K. Again, possibly more expensive that people would be ready to pay, but don't under estimate monthly payment plan elongated over 3 years. In between FOMO, social proof and the actual usefulness it will find its user base.

And at some point, Samsung, Google, and possibly maybe chinese constructers etc. will come up with their android based alternative. Starting as cheaper / not as good, and slowly catching up and building new features. "Samsung vision, gaming oriented with tracked controllers included", "Pixel Vision, that integrates with your full suit of google products and give you great quality for less price" etc.

I'm pretty sure I'll be getting one, but then again I'm an iOS developer and will likely be playing around with developing apps for it.

I can definitely see myself using this in the (home) office and around the house. Purely for productivity this looks like it'll be amazing

I don't think Apple would make it public unless they had a plan to incorporate it into the Apple ecosystem. It will probably be as popular as any Apple product. Even at that price point, it will be considered a status symbol

I think even some fans will bork at the price and looks while wearing it.

I don't think VR has any chance of catching on until headsets are significantly lighter. Watching movies in VR has been a thing for years, but it hasn't caught on because it's just not comfortable. I don't think people are gonna want to use VR headsets to watch movies until the headsets are as comfortable as a pair of glasses (or at least a pair of ski goggles.)

One day? Maybe. First gen? Absolutely not.

isn’t it the same as just wearing sunglasses, if not better?

Oh man, you just made a bunch of Apple execs have to change their pants.

No, it's not. It's absolutely, 100%, not the same or better. It's like going to a concert and watching it through your phone as you record it. But worse.

I was going to write about how recording your kids with this thing is bad, but then I remembered that people back in the day recorded their kids with camcorders. I wonder if back then people thought it was creepy. Nowadays people just use phones and it's generally considered OK, because it's now normalized behaviour (everyone does it).

However, with how rare VR is (and I can't see it becoming a mainstream product due to its mostly niche use cases), using the Vision to record "special family moments" will probably be frowned upon, even in a few years.

a father was recording his kids in 3D through his Vision Pro

Didn't Black Mirror have an episode on this? Having the tech being used in day to day seems a little dystopian to me.

In general, if a product does not make your life simpler and easier (smartphones), then it won't take off.

The Vision Pro adds complexity and bulkiness to one's life, so it is less likely to succeed.

But just like in history, if anyone can pull it off, its Apple.

It was kind of cute, but I don’t why mass adoption would happen 4 and a half decades later: https://youtu.be/HqPe7pE_5uQ