Apple to Host 'Secretive' Vision Pro Training Event for Retail Staff

[R2DHue]

Apple is planning to bring select retail store employees to Cupertino, California in early 2024 to learn about the Vision Pro headset ahead of the device's launch, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.

Gurman revealed details about the "product training event" in the latest "Power On" newsletter. Apple apparently recent sent a memo to retail employees asking them to apply for the "secretive" event. Acceptance is dependent on an application and interview process. An extract from the memo reads:Gurman explained that the event seeks to teach employees about the Vision Pro and train them on the complex procedure involved when selling the device to customers. Apple hopes that a couple of members of staff from each retail store in the United States will attend before returning to their local store to teach their colleagues about the Vision Pro.

The rollout of the Vision Pro headset is expected to be the most complicated in Apple's history. Apple is planning to assemble customers' Vision Pro headsets in-store, compiling the appropriate headband, light seal, and optional prescription lenses. Flagship retail stores are set to gain dedicated Vision Pro hands-on areas, while other stores will only receive one or two units.

Gurman believes that the memo's wording indicates that the device will not be ready at the very beginning of the new year. Apple simply says that Vision Pro will launch in "early" 2024.

Article Link: Apple to Host 'Secretive' Vision Pro Training Event for Retail Staff

I’d expect a significant portion of the training to revolve around keeping customers from falling or freaking out.

 

[jimbobb24]

I really hope the AVP is shareable even if I have to buy different prescription lenses. I probably won't buy one if everyone in my family can't use it.

It’s built on iOS which so far has not been multi user. I agree this is just terrible for a device so expensive. It’s supposed to replace a computer with the cost of a computer. All computers have multi user support. This could be a deal breaker and so far the answer is no.

 

[thelookingglass]

I know this is about sales training rumors, and I hate to veer so far from the subject, but I have to say it. Every couple of weeks I think maybe I've judged too harshly and this thing might actually catch on, but then I see a new picture of someone wearing it and I conclude all over again: this is going to be a train-wreck for Apple. It will be a high quality, well organized and funded train-wreck, but a train-wreck just the same.

They've got to start somewhere though. I don't think anyone's expecting this to be high volume.

 

[jimbobb24]

I actually think them mentioning anything about pricing was a mistake.. especially when it then takes so long to get the product out. They should have teased it without pricing..

I think developers needed a realistic idea of target market. Mac Pro sized market not iPad sized market.

 

[gleepskip]

Oh my!! SECRETS?!? I just have to know!

 

[Mr. Dee]

I just want to know how they are demo it to the general public if really need to customize it for each head? You can't just buy something like this without getting a good feel of it. The company should measure the heads of all 164,000 employees to ensure they get this right.

 

[anthogag]

Vision Pro is the next step for the Apple Pro. I "can't wait" to get on board.

The future is so bright I gotta wear Vision Pro. ⛷️

 

[klasma]

I just want to know how they are demo it to the general public if really need to customize it for each head?

I suspect a substantial part of the training will be how to do the customization.

 

[klasma]

I actually think them mentioning anything about pricing was a mistake.. especially when it then takes so long to get the product out. They should have teased it without pricing.

To the contrary, this lets people save up, and the longer the wait, the more people can save up.

 

[klasma]

They might offer 30 minute demonstrations for serious buyers... probably by appointment...

Thing is, I would imagine a lot of people going along just to try it out, with no intention at all of buying this first gen product.

And I think I'd be a bit annoyed if I was one of those people who was buying, having to wait in line behind a load of people just wanting to try it out without any intention to buy.. especially if there is a crowd etc when you're trying it out.

So it's either appointment or disappointment. Or possibly both.

 

[Mac_The_Ripper]

So it's either appointment or disappointment. Or possibly both.

You can't spell disappointment without appointment!

 

[aParkerMusic]

I imagine they will provide wet wipes and another microfibre cloth to clean it up after its been on someone's sweaty face!

Are you going to make a porn joke in every single comment? I’m all for humor, but it’s getting old and clogging up the thread.

 

[richinaus]

I look forward to trying one of these myself, hoping it does key things demoed as well as they appeared in the WWDC demo. Access to a super-sized laptop screen anywhere I happen to go seems quite valuable to me. I hope it works well.

Based on my experience with the meta quest 3 so far, you may be a happy customer as the quest is better than expected and the AVP has better resolution. It will all come down to comfort - the quest 3 is good but not something I like on my face beyond 30minutes [and this is with the better head strap].

 

[R2DHue]

It’s built on iOS which so far has not been multi user. I agree this is just terrible for a device so expensive. It’s supposed to replace a computer with the cost of a computer. All computers have multi user support. This could be a deal breaker and so far the answer is no.

This shouldn’t be too hard for Apple to do.

The original “iPhone OS 1” through iOS, tvOS, watchOS, visionOS, etc. were all built on the multiuser Mac OS X/mach-XNU/Darwin — just with different User Interface layers in place of the Mac’s (and different User i/o of course).

Par exemple, even Apple’s (albeit stripped-down) watchOS is an incredibly powerful 64-bit operating system for the form factor on which it runs. (It’s almost overkill.)

The very first version of what would later be named watchOS was “using most of iOS 8.2,” it was reported at the time of the Apple Watch’s initial release.

And the design of Apple’s latest 5.6 Billion transistor S9 SiP inside the latest Apple Watch series is directly based on the Apple A15 — with dual 64-bit E CPU cores, PowerVR GPU core and 4-core Neural Engine. (And W3 chip plus an ARM Cortex-M4 ARMv7E-M-based Ultra Wideband 2 microcircuit.)

watchOS should be all set for a lot of future A.I. and LLM processing. 🤔 I sure wish Developers (“developers, developers, developers…”) would do a lot more with Apple Watch (but maybe there’s just no money in it 🤷‍♂️).

(I want me some more games!)

But what would Unix’s originators from the late 1960s think about their operating system running on a tiny device on your wrist⁉️

EDIT: I would think the main barrier to multi-user, multi-accounts would be storage amount.

EDIT 2: Having thought about it more, “Unix’s originators” probably foresaw this… 🤔 (and much more).
˙

 

[JosephAW]

Everyone seems to think this training is about setting up the device... but it might be about "how to sell a $3500 device without mentioning the price, ever".

If you have to ask how much it costs it's not for you.

 

[Star Brood]

> Apple hopes that a couple of
... my phone screen had a line break here, and I thought it would end with "people will actually buy it".

 

[Surf Monkey]

The rolling disaster that is Vision Pro continues to be fascinating to observe. Cook’s Newton will define his tenure as CEO. Funny.

 

[newyorksole]

My wife and son think I'm completely nuts for somehow wanting one of these. However, I'm suspicious that it'll be a rather expensive occasional use product. Not sure if something like this is going to replace just holding an iPad instead.

idk how anyone could think someone is “nuts” for wanting a device like this. have they seen the features? lol.

yeah it’s expensive, but as long as buying one of these things isn’t putting you into crippling debt or making it so that you have to eat rice for months… go for it.

 

[Surf Monkey]

idk how anyone could think someone is “nuts” for wanting a device like this. have they seen the features? lol.

yeah it’s expensive, but as long as buying one of these things isn’t putting you into crippling debt or making it so that you have to eat rice for months… go for it.

A giant iPhone helmet that makes you look like a pathetic nerd, isolates you from basic human interaction and is potentially dangerous to your eye health. What’s “nuts” about that??

 

[Born Again]

I feel sorry for Apple. This is going to bomb so hard that UN will get involved.

I hate when people lose their jobs. First meta now Apple.

 

[Born Again]

idk how anyone could think someone is “nuts” for wanting a device like this. have they seen the features? lol.

yeah it’s expensive, but as long as buying one of these things isn’t putting you into crippling debt or making it so that you have to eat rice for months… go for it.

I found the $20 avacado toast guy!!

Priorities right?

 

[R2DHue]

I feel sorry for Apple. This is going to bomb so hard that UN will get involved.

I hate when people lose their jobs. First meta now Apple.

The same was said about the 1998 iMac (too expensive, too limited, no legacy ports, no disc drive), the iPhone when it first entered a category awash in phone models and established players, the (said to be too limited) iPad…

It’s been said about pretty much every new Apple product.

Apple just defies gravity, man!

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Wow! This iVision thing must be a big deal!

 

[CapitalIdea]

Hey my company also does not conduct meetings on the open street nor do we livestream them for the public. Does that qualify as “secretive meetings” or is that term thrown into this article for trash sensationalism?

 

[Boeingfan]

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