Apple Vision Pro Launches: 'The Era of Spatial Computing Has Arrived'

[Bodhitree]

You know, the iPhone was 499 dollars in 2007, which adjusted for inflation is 733 dollars in 2024. And that was a very convincing hit product, with a lot of convenience to it. And that arguably took until today to take over the market.

The Vision Pro is heavy, not convenient and has a lot fewer positive angles to it. I don’t think they will be able to bring the size down to a standard pair of glasses within the next 20 years. Indeed the whole product category may turn out to be a fad and evaporate by that time.

It’s only Apples awesome brand strength and infrastructure and marketing that allows them to bring this product at this price.

 

[3rdiguy]

Can’t wait to see what a true consumer version looks like. This is more of a developer/beta version. When they evolve towards glasses I’ll be very interested

 

[picpicmac]

we’re all adults here

That is a risky assumption for an anonymous online forum.

 

[klasma]

Seems to me that the price is the least of the problems. If it was truly a great, revolutionary product with obvious benefits and appeal the price wouldn’t be an object at all.

Yeah, I’d pay $3500 for an iPhone-5-sized modern flagship iPhone. Out of desperation I guess, but it would be worth it. But not for a walled-garden, no-controllers bulky VR headset.

 

[Chuckeee]

That's the price that Apple is going to have to hit with some version of this if they want this to be the next big thing for the masses. Maybe $2499. It's not happening at $3499.

If Apple just keeps it at $3500, given time (5 years) then the $3500 will be less erroneous

 

[vipergts2207]

If Apple just keeps it at $3500, given time (5 years) then the $3500 will be less erroneous

Ok let me be clear $3500 in 2024 dollars. That way if we get to 2039 and the entry level model is $3500 somebody doesn’t come back and say “wrong!” Also, perhaps you mean egregious or enormous?

 

[turbineseaplane]

It's going to be quite a ride on the forum this weekend, as so many AVP buyers realize how much Apple overhyped (and overpriced) this product.

 

[Syk]

I just got back from my demoing the AVP at my local apple store. The demo was very scripted and limited. I was amazed at the audio and video quality. Best I've experienced so far. Disappointed the demo did not include a sample facetime call, connecting to a mac, typing on the virtual keyboard, browsing to anything other than the safari homepage (maybe they would have let me, but I didn't ask). Also disappointed the screen size was capped at less than 100% of the fov when watching a short clip of a movie. However, I am sold. Will definitely be buying one as soon as I have the $. Still need to figure out how to watch stuff I've shot with my 360° camera on it. Right now I think the only way to view content has to be shot on an iphone 15 pro and the device itself. Hoping Insta360 comes out with a viewing app or some other solution becomes available. The few 3D clips of a soccer match, baseball game, and other things I saw are absolutely worth the price of admission, imo.

I think a ton of people would run out and buy one immediately if apple was broadcasting the Super Bowl in 3D and people knew beforehand the immersive and realistic experience it provided.

What are you calling a ton of people? With tax you're looking at almost $4000. I'd expect a lot of returns after the SB but the main attraction of the Super Bowl is Super Bowl parts parties, hanging with friends, eating food and everybody watching the game together and high fiving or booing. You'd be pretty secluded off from your buddies wearing an AVP, even with the fake eyes

I bet the main buyers are the rich, social media tech people/influencers, rappers(I already know one will show up at an award show wearing one on the red carpet, probably Kayne Kanye) and then the buy anything Apple no matter what crowd.

*edited to fix some, not all typos

 

[Chuckeee]

Ok let me be clear $3500 in 2024 dollars. That way if we get to 2039 and the entry level model is $3500 somebody doesn’t come back and say “wrong!” Also, perhaps you mean egregious or enormous?

How about less painful

 

[Surf Monkey]

How many airplanes do you own? What about DNA sequencers? MRI machines? Houses? Tesla Roadster (which was one of the main cars that set off the growth in EVs)?

Price is always an object. Things can be great, revolutionary, and with obvious benefits and appeal but are priced out of reach of most people. Things can be great, revolutionary, and with obvious benefits and appeal and be really inexpensive, like a water filtration device.

The Apple Vision Pro is priced out of reach of most people in the world. That doesn't make it somehow not great or revolutionary. I'm not saying it is, but it will not gain mass adoption at current prices. Apple could sell millions of AVPs, but that's still a small percent of the world's population. Even so, it can still be revolutionary. It can take years to see how something is revolutionary.

Is it priced too high? YES, it is priced too high FOR WHAT IT IS. It simply doesn’t represent nearly 4k USD worth of value.

As to whether or not most people can afford it, well, Apple does fine and dandy selling phones that cost over $1,000. Does that seem affordable for most people? Probably not, and yet iPhone is a mass adoption device. Because it represents a tangible value.

 

[Surf Monkey]

I'll take Quotes that does not age well for $200, Alex.😁

That's what I said about storage back in the day. "1TB of storage in something smaller than a postage stamp? Hahaha." This was back when 10MB HDD weighed 3lbs. I look good with egg on my face.🤥

This isn’t “back in the day.” The advance of science and technology has noticeably slowed. It’s a mistake to imagine that things can be miniaturized indefinitely. All you have to look at is the battery. It would take a MASSIVE and REVOLUTIONARY advancement to allow the necessary power to drive the Vision system to fit into a glasses frame. Never mind all the cameras, IR emitters, displays, processors, speakers, wiring…

This system will NEVER fit into a pair of normal glasses frames. Not in our lifetimes, not ever.

 

[webkit]

You know, the iPhone was 499 dollars in 2007, which adjusted for inflation is 733 dollars in 2024. And that was a very convincing hit product, with a lot of convenience to it. And that arguably took until today to take over the market.

The Vision Pro is heavy, not convenient and has a lot fewer positive angles to it. I don’t think they will be able to bring the size down to a standard pair of glasses within the next 20 years. Indeed the whole product category may turn out to be a fad and evaporate by that time.

It’s only Apples awesome brand strength and infrastructure and marketing that allows them to bring this product at this price.

Yes, and the original Macintosh starting price was $2,495 retail or about $7,500 in today's dollars which is more than twice the price of the VP yet became quite successful for Apple. As happened with the Macintosh, VP prices will come down, new models/versions with be added, technologies will advance, usage will increase, etc. The VP may even become another “iconic” product for the company.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I’d be inclined to bet my life savings against Tim’s that it won’t.

So you are willing to take a one-against-a million bet. Wow, big risk taker. Heck, I believe in the AVP start and I would make that bet.

 

[vipergts2207]

Yes, and the original Macintosh starting price was $2,495 retail or about $7,500 in today's dollars which is more than twice the price of the VP yet became quite successful for Apple. As happened with the Macintosh, VP prices will come down, new models/versions with be added, technologies will advance, usage will increase, etc. The VP may even become another “iconic” product for the company.

Most old computers were notoriously expensive. Put the Mac price in context. The competing Compaq Portable was $3k back then or about $9k today. Computers were an expensive area. VR headsets are not, or do not have to be, as evidenced by the Quest 3 or PSVR2.

 

[Oscar_440]

I just don't see the appeal of the Vision Pro at the moment. "Spatial computing" appears to be a solution in search of a problem. Once they can fit the tech into ordinary glasses I will be interested, but I dread a future in which people seclude themselves even more from the world, as if they don't already spend enough time looking at their smartphone screens.

Fully agree. Fortunately, this product for $3,500 plus tax will not be mainstream

 

[CarAnalogy]

Spatial computing is just a marketing term like metaverse. It doesn’t mean anything.

Metaverse does have a meaning. It was in a science fiction book called Snow Crash. You should really read it.

I dislike Zuckerberg for many reasons, but Zucking the meaning of that word is near the top of the list.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Metaverse does have a meaning. It was in a science fiction book called Snow Crash. You should really read it.

I dislike Zuckerberg for many reasons, but Zucking the meaning of that word is near the top of the list.

“Metaverse” is indeed a lift from Neil Stephenson. The term “spatial computing” on the other hand is pure marketing speak. Apple spent years telling people that VR was too isolating and the future is AR. Then they release a VR device that doesn’t really do AR so they needed one of their made up names for it. Luckily they already had their rebrand of Dolby Atmos…

 

[turbineseaplane]

Apple spent years telling people that VR was too isolating and the future is AR. Then they release a VR device that doesn’t really do AR so they needed one of their made up names for it.

That's what happens when they couldn't make an AR device work

It's like AirPower again, but this time they released "something"

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I have seen the release of many tech products. Some were good, some were bad, some evolved, some had their time and disappeared, some I bought, some I refused. But the Vision Pro is the first one I’m almost afraid of. I know enough people who can’t put their smartphone down for more than 2 minutes while their sitting in a restaurant talking to me. They constantly look at their phone in an almost shy, embarrassed way. They know it’s not polite, but it’s their addiction. Or think of teenagers barely leaving their rooms, their eyes glued to the digital world, rather chatting with their fake “friends” instead of meeting real ones. Giving them the Vision Pro is like giving heroin to an alcoholic. When I talk to someone, I don’t want to look into some digital replicas of their eyes while they are constantly checking their social media. People refused 3D TVs, so maybe there is hope that the Vision Pro does not become mainstream.

Whining about the (true) negtive aspects of new tech is a waste of words. Tech will always evolve. Focus instead on how to cope with social issues around advancing tech.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

'The Era of Spatial Computing Has Arrived'

The market would differ. Apple was $195.18/share on January 23 this year. Yesterday it closed at $186. Premarket trading at 8 am today indicates an open of $180.90. Dow 30 futures are down 81.84 points pre-market. Virtually of that is the result of the drop in Apple's stock price.

For comparison, you could say 'The era of electric vehicles has arrived.' Notable drops in sales, and drops in resource allocation to EV R&D, and layoffs in that sector by GM, Ford and Tesla in the last 2 quarters would imply that American drivers would disagree that the era of internal combustion is over, for a multitude of reasons. Price being one of the factors in common with the VisionPro. Charging issues being another.

When Apple can produce a VisionPro that can run 6-8 hours on a charge, make and take phone calls, weigh the same as a pair of eyeglasses and cost the same as an iPhone, I'd agree that 'The Era of Spatial Computing Has Arrived.' Til then, I reserve judgement.

Go ahead, short AAPL. See what that does for you.

P.S. Ever hear of "Buy on the rumor, sell on the news...?"

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I don't trade Apple stock. That would indicate a short term horizon. When I buy a company, I only consider its prospects over a 5-20 year horizon. I'm a bit over 20 years with Apple, having bought when Jobs returned, but I believe in the next 5-20 years. Just not in the VisionPro. I think its the 21st century Newton. Apple survived that, and will survive this.

Newton may be a particularly good analogy. Newton was great for Apple. Things learned with Newton helped bring all the world-changing mobile Apple devices that followed.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

My prediction: this will never move past being a niche device until it becomes cheaper.

OK, you can use the term niche device as derogatory to denigrate AVP. But do the easy math: every tech firm on the planet would be thrilled to sell 200k x $3.5k+ = >$700 million in ~two weeks.

 

[john123]

I’ve been stuck at “Preparing for shipping” for days now. It’s always 😢 when you order just a bit after pre-orders start but could have gotten it on launch day!

 

[Allen_Wentz]

It’s only Apples awesome brand strength and infrastructure and marketing that allows them to bring this product at this price.

Wrong. It is only your negativism that intentionally fails to include impressive new world-leading tech in that sentence. The tech is paramount, yet you intentionally disregard it.

 

[vipergts2207]

OK, you can use the term niche device as derogatory to denigrate AVP. But do the easy math: every tech firm on the planet would be thrilled to sell 200k x $3.5k+ = >$700 million in ~two weeks.

The interpretation of niche as being derogatory is yours alone. It simply means not reaching mass adoption by the public at large.