Apple Vision Pro Launches in Two More Countries

[MacRumors]

Apple Vision Pro launched in stores and began arriving to customers today in South Korea and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, customers can now schedule a free 30-minute appointment to demo the headset at Apple Store locations in both countries.

Apple has localized Vision Pro pages in South Korea and the United Arab Emirates with more details about the headset, for those unfamiliar.

Apple first released the Vision Pro in the U.S. in February, with pricing starting at $3,499. In June and July, the headset launched in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the U.K., China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore. With the additions of South Korea and the United Arab Emirates, the headset is now available in 12 countries and regions.

In July, research firm IDC estimated that Vision Pro sales would total less than 500,000 units this year. In a recent interview, Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that the Vision Pro is not a mass-market product due to its high price.

"At $3,500, it's not a mass-market product," said Cook. "Right now, it's an early-adopter product. People who want to have tomorrow's technology today—that's who it's for. Fortunately, there's enough people who are in that camp that it's exciting."

Currently in beta, visionOS 2.2 adds an ultra-wide mode to the Mac Virtual Display feature.

Article Link: Apple Vision Pro Launches in Two More Countries

 

[iLuddite]

Hope it does well. I can't afford it and honestly can't say I'd buy one if I had the means (I'd likely start with an M4 MacBook Pro) but I want to see Apple succeeding and I wish them greater success with successive generations.

 

[contacos]

I would like to introduce the new non-scientific term called the "Apple Vision Pro Paradox". Does it even exist when no one buys it?

 

[Janschi]

Two more countries where its not going to sell well

 

[PhoenixAnhart]

They need to keep launching in more countries. Otherwise it will never truly take off once cheaper versions are made available.

 

[mgmacius]

Oh, look! 5 more sales this year!

 

[Onelifenofear]

So I did a test on one the other day and they truly are amazing to use. I'd buy it now and try developing on it but I don't have that to outlay at the moment. If I could think of a killer app that might change, but would need to be able to be cross developed onto Meta Quest.

They shouldn't have marketed it as a home device. It's in the name Pro. It should have been pushed for
developers and companies to use and make enterprise apps. Sure the home stuff could have been shown as a hint to what is to come... an apple vision for $999

I know what they are aiming for eventually. Normal glass, like the meta raybans. They are pushing AR over VR for this reason. Of course it can do VR but they will never push it as thats not the eventual goal.

I'd love to have some of the Meta Quest games on that screen... but it also needs controllers - Apple needs an API to allow third party controllers to work somehow.

I'd love to work for Apple... just too show them how they are entering this space all wrong.

 

[timber]

Makes sense to launch in the UAE (i.e. Dubai), lots of affluent people there or just strolling around.
And South Korea of course is self explanatory.
The Vision Pro is not very useful today but Apple probably knows and knew this would be a marathon.

 

[W£S]

I was dead against it till I tried it at the Apple Store. It is an amazing product. I think the price is high. But if you have the right use case, I think it is reasonably priced. Just that not many will have that kind of use case.

I will probably keep the set I recently bought as version 2.2 beta shows that Apple has a clear “vision” of what it wants to achieve in the longer term. It can only get better….

 

[JPack]

South Korea and UAE have 75% and 85% market share, respectively, for Android.

Whoever at Apple decided to launch in those countries probably knew it was gonna fail no matter what. But at least they now have another reason to blame the poor sales. Smart thinking. Next, Apple will launch India where Android is 95% and median monthly income is $300.

 

[F23]

When's the cheaper one coming Tim? Save your legacy Timmy.

 

[deaglecat]

Even if sales will not be high, It also serves as a halo product...as a demonstration of Apple technology prowess.

Samsung doesn't currently have anything close - but is rumored to be releasing an XR/VR headset next year running on the Google platform.

 

[User 6502]

At this point Apple should just rip the band aid off and retire this failure of a product. Nobody is surprised it was a flop (other than Tim), but to persevere is bound to attract even more ridicule.

 

[Strellson2024]

Still not available in Switzerland, which i truly dont understand. Language wise, German and French is already covered. Plus Switzerland is an iphone country with a very high market share and the Swiss are more willing to buy expensive items.

 

[Rodney Dangerfield]

QUESTION: Is there an App Store for the Apple Vision Pro that provides that provides consumers with a virtual travel experience?

 

[contacos]

Still not available in Switzerland, which i truly dont understand. Language wise, German and French is already covered. Plus Switzerland is an iphone country with a very high market share and the Swiss are more willing to buy expensive items.

Takes a while to remove the „ß“ everywhere 😉

 

[eyez73]

Still not available in Switzerland, which i truly dont understand. Language wise, German and French is already covered. Plus Switzerland is an iphone country with a very high market share and the Swiss are more willing to buy expensive items.

Don't know, maybe just a small market for them?

 

[macfacts]

Oh, look! 5 more sales this year!

With so few owners, why would any potential devs want to make apps for it? What is apple doing to get more developers?

 

[Onelifenofear]

At this point Apple should just rip the band aid off and retire this failure of a product. Nobody is surprised it was a flop (other than Tim), but to persevere is bound to attract even more ridicule.

Ah remember when Steve Ballmer laughed at the iPhone and that it was a toy and may sell a few thousand of the most expensive phone until they stop it. And business users won't buy it as it does have a keyboard.

You like he has no "vision" at all. Come back when they have the apple Vision glasses and have sold a Billion.

It's like when people don't understand why anyone would pay for or need a Mac Pro for 12k... How do you think they design all the lesser stuff? This is a Halo product or a pro platform to develop the killer apps of the future.

Have you actually tried one?

 

[Onelifenofear]

With so few owners, why would any potential devs want to make apps for it? What is apple doing to get more developers?

Ah well that's the thing. It's not hard for a developer to make apps cross VR/AR headsets. The trick is, what's the killer app?

 

[User 6502]

Ah remember when Steve Ballmer laughed at the iPhone and that it was a toy and may sell a few thousand of the most expensive phone until they stop it. And business users won't buy it as it does have a keyboard.

You like he has no "vision" at all. Come back when they have the apple Vision glasses and have sold a Billion.

It's like when people don't understand why anyone would pay for or need a Mac Pro for 12k... How do you think they design all the lesser stuff? This is a Halo product or a pro platform to develop the killer apps of the future.

Have you actually tried one?

iPhone sold more in the first week than this joke sold in the first year. This ain’t no iPhone, it’s more like pippin.

 

[anthogag]

Negative comments about VP in every MacRumors article concerning VP is becoming really boring.

 

[anakin44011]

South Korea and UAE have 75% and 85% market share, respectively, for Android.

Whoever at Apple decided to launch in those countries probably knew it was gonna fail no matter what. But at least they now have another reason to blame the poor sales. Smart thinking. Next, Apple will launch India where Android is 95% and median monthly income is $300.

You are so right...which is why UAE has no luxury market at all. Errr...wait a minute...scratch that...

I've been to Dubai. Sometimes wealthy people signal to others in subtle ways (a $20k handbag that only other wealth-conscious would know costs $20k) and sometimes it is quite obvious, if not garish (a white gold plated Mercedes...parked next to two others just like it).

My very simple observation (which also applies elsewhere, but REALLY applies to UAE) is that the top 1% is all that matters. Apple doesn't need 15% or even 5%...but the top 1% will buy one without even checking the price. And that's 50-100,000 sales this holiday season alone.

 

[obamtl]

Hope it does well. I can't afford it and honestly can't say I'd buy one if I had the means (I'd likely start with an M4 MacBook Pro) but I want to see Apple succeeding and I wish them greater success with successive generations.

I hope the product evolves to live up to the potential. I bought it when it lunched in the UK and returned it the following day.

The most impressive thing was environments when you felt like you could transport yourself to the moon or top of a mountain. The device is however still too heavy for extended use (forget complaints about battery life - you’d struggle to wear it long enough for that to matter).

I think they need to cut the weight in half and improve how the weight is distributed over your head. And of course bring a low cost version that can help adoption enough to get developers vested.

 

[NotYourUncle]

The first iPhone sold 1.4 million in 12 months. These days they sell over 220 million each year. This isn't Pippin; it's AppleTV, which was called "Steve Jobs' Hobby" because they kept working on it although it sold very few units annually. This will get lighter, faster, cheaper. Go to X and search "Apple Vision Pro" for examples of what some are doing with it.

I agree: there's no "killer app" yet. There's no one killer app for computers or smart phones either; we've just become used to using them for many things in our lives. This is another digital device whose utility (because of weight and cost) is still being developed toward a better UX. And there are over 1,000,000 apps for it, EVEN IF they are not optimized for spatiality. The same app on my iPhone and my MacBook have differences, but they still work in ways that are useful to me.