Apple Now Selling $300 Developer Strap for Vision Pro

[klover]

Can the AVP be used with a PC for gaming with this?

 

[turbineseaplane]

Can the AVP be used with a PC for gaming with this?

Now that would drum up some actual interest outside the Apple-Sphere

 

[VaruLV]

Are they going to sell any other strap-on accessories?
You know, branching out into other, pretty lucrative markets.

 

[klover]

Are they going to sell any other strap-on accessories?
You know, branching out into other, pretty lucrative markets.

I'm certain they want to penetrate into new markets.

 

[Marshall73]

Cost of business, $300 for a cable or adaptor is not unusual. It can cost many thousands just for a dongle for some tools.

 

[neuropsychguy]

Dude, can you even hear yourself?

This is the reality distortion field in action.

It’s called a “developer strap”; that’s all that needs to be done to clearly communicate who it is/is not for. That people would make the argument that it really needs to be $300 to stop it being so “tempting” to idiots is just… wow…

I think you're underestimating people. Also, nowhere did I support the price. All I did was provide some potential explanation for why it might be priced the way it is. Is that wrong to do? Try to figure out rationale behind a business decision? It could also just be Apple gouging, but the commenter I replied to was the one making that assumption already. What I did was offer a potential different explanation. This is called critical thinking.

 

[neuropsychguy]

But Apple really wants developers to develop for the platform so this a very shortsighted decision. Most developers would definitely need this for the speed benefits when debugging issues, trust me.

Maybe. I'm not defending the price, just offering one possible explanation. Although, I'm not sure if most developers really need it. Maybe, but we'll have to wait for developers to chime in about what benefits it's offering them. Although, if it really offers a lot of speed benefits, the price is cheap. If it saves devs a few hours of time, it pays for itself really quickly.

 

[Ubuntu]

Maybe. I'm not defending the price, just offering one possible explanation. Although, I'm not sure if most developers really need it. Maybe, but we'll have to wait for developers to chime in about what benefits it's offering them. Although, if it really offers a lot of speed benefits, the price is cheap. If it saves devs a few hours of time, it pays for itself really quickly.

If my assumption that it offers the same kind of speed benefits as wired vs wireless debugging with the iPhone it’s going to be a huge gain. I think it’s just very naive and arrogant for Apple to charge such a crazy price when they need developers to come onboard. Especially when they created this problem themselves by not including a USB C Port. It’s just greed.

 

[JMO1]

Could the magnetic pull string release used in these straps be similar or work for the rumored “new” Apple watch straps?

 

[FlyingDutch]

They are incredible… this should be at cost, because they need developers to work on it. But they are simply milking everyone within their ecosystem

 

[ronno]

Kinda reminds me of something I learned in elem school. A single pencil costs $47,000 to make. The subsequent pencils costs <$.01 to manufacture once you bought all the lumbar, graphite, paint, machinery, and then put it all together.

This piece is probably something like that. It costed Apple $MM to develop, but so few are sold that the avg cost per dongle is somewhere around $300.

With that said, you’d think Apple would be willing to take the loss on this device if it helps developers create better apps which therefore makes the AVP that much more valuable and appealing.

Except that some third party is going to figure out how to make this dongle for $39 by this time next week.

 

[DavidSchaub]

This piece is probably something like that. It costed Apple $MM to develop, but so few are sold that the avg cost per dongle is somewhere around $300.

I would love to better understand what Apple amortizes the cost of in its products.

The last decade, and billions of dollars spent, developing the AVP is not counting against the margins of each unit sold.

Clearly the BOM and running the manufacturing pipeline costs each item sold's margins; but how about the cost of the manufacturing tooling handled?

That $300 item is not your average dongle, as the lightning style connector is probably something nobody else has the tooling setup to even make, and the market for adding a USB-C port to the AVP is pretty small.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Not by itself. You’d still need an app like Steam Link or Virtual Desktop to do anything with data going over it, if those apps could connect over this at all. Then you’d need to deal with the lack of controllers. Then you need to get past Apple to approve it while they insist on distancing themselves from other VR platforms wherever they can.

Not if you're a paid Apple developer, who are coincidentally the only ones who can buy this strap.