Apple's Vision Pro Developer Labs Not Drawing Many Attendees

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Just because they buy iPhones, does not mean that serve the military market. You're not going to seen Apple AR/VR headsets in military use. The military, outside of iPhones, is strictly PC.

Uhh...we got Macs too ya know. Not a lot, but we still have them. Our developers in Washington DC are all 100% macOS as they fought hard to get them.

I have no idea what this means?

Okay so the Meta Quest, Bytedance Pico, and Apple Vision Pro are what's known as standalone headsets, as in they do all the computing from the headset and do not require a PC connected. Not every HMD requires a console/PC to use.

 

[xTIMMYxCOREx]

There are far more uses than that. Do a wee bit of research.

If you need to research a use for a product then the product is a failure. Come up with the killer app FIRST and promote it with that.

 

[jimbobb24]

Niche Market + Niche Product = Niche Interest.

In addition, I think Apple should cover the travel expenses. It's a multi-trillion-dollar company.

Need some way to sort out who is interested and who is not and just thinks it would be cool to see.

 

[MacsRgr8]

I'm going to by one and never open it. Maybe my kids can sell it for a fortune 20 years from now.

I've heard this statement a lot...
Looks like most who will purchase it have the same idea. So, more Vision Pro's being kept unopened in it's original case than those actually being used. lol.

 

[dazcox5181]

Yeah, ok... the true drivers of technology

Not sure if you were agreeing or more likely being sarcastic, but these literally the 2 areas that historically defined advances in tech.
Think we’d have such capable GPUs without gaming?
Porn… always has helped adoption - see the failure of Betamax, and hd-dvd as two.

 

[jimbobb24]

Sadly Apple-centric techies like John Gruber, Jason Snell, ATP guys etc. are all positive about this product and all think Apple needed to put something out there. But even so they’re stretching to come up with compelling use cases, especially for something that costs $3500. Nobody is going to be wearing this on an airplane, especially when battery life is only a couple hours.

2 of those people used the device and one said if the sports works out as good as the demo they would buy the device JUST TO WATCH NBA games. In all caps to emphasize how amazing they thought the experience was.

Those people used it were blown away.

I think this device will be niche but apple didn’t listen to Jason Snell and decide let’s make the most complicated product in our history. They made it and blew the apple fans away.

 

[mistasopz]

This thing is going to be like touchbar 2.0.

 

[SilvioInfante]

I don't see a reason for VR/AR headsets besides Games and Porn.

There are plenty of industry use cases and reasons. But not mass market reasons. It will never, ever, ever be a mass market product.

 

[topdrawer]

i keep saying this, but there are vey few vr content creators working on macs and this is apple's fault.

 

[SilvioInfante]

Most devs probably don't know what to do with it. I can't imagine a AR/VR version of my banking apps, various smart home apps, reward card apps, etc.

Edit: Not to mention, food ordering apps. You can see the food on your plate before you buy it!! lol

Most developers are just checking to see if their iPad apps look reasonable in the visionOS simulator. There isn't much else to do.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

If you need to research a use for a product then the product is a failure. Come up with the killer app FIRST and promote it with that.

The killer app for me is ANY size screen in a smallish mobile package. And that was demoed in the WWDC presentation.

Anybody want an even bigger MB? An even bigger iMac? An even bigger iPad? An even bigger iPhone? Conceptually, ALL of them could be "in there." I doubt Apple will ever make even a 20" MB (will we ever see the 17" again?)... but this can deliver the illusion of one MINUS the weight and unwieldiness. Ever wish your biggest screen desktop experience could be anywhere you happen to be? Perhaps this can replicate it... on the plane, on the train, in the Uber ride, at the hotel, etc. Am I the ONLY road warrior who often wishes the big screen Mac back at home/office could be there- wherever "there" happens to be this week- when on the road? Here's a very tangible way to get that- the ONLY practical way.

All tech players are working on ways to deliver bigger screens while clinging to mobility. That objective is yielding attempts at FOLDS, at ROLLS, etc. Perhaps Vpro is an Apple cut at the same? And instead of delivering a rigidly fixed-size screen when unfolded or unrolled, this ONE device can deliver ANY size screen... as small as a phone screen and as big as IMAX: no creases, no scaling weight with size, etc.

If using it as a laptop (BIG) screen works as good as it appeared in the demo, Vpro may be my next "laptop" (screen). Why be limited to "up to" 16" anymore, when a MB could be 20", 30", 40", 50", ultra-wide, 2 screen, 4 screen? And deliver any of that without the weight of aluminum, glass and overall heft.

And that's just ONE "killer" app IMO. With a little imagination about a device that can effectively show our eyes ANYTHING paired with devices that can play ANY sound to our ears, there is a LOT of killer apps to be created and delivered. "Think different!"

 

[terrapinjess]

Price.
I have no intention to ever buy this device. I have trouble paying for a $1000 phone nevermind something triple the price.
I’d like to think developers have their finger on the pulse of others like me and have no drive or incentive to create niche things for a niche crowd.

 

[contacos]

The keynote was weird about this anyway. It’s like Apple didn’t even know what it is supposed to be for / solving and simply relied on fancy images and devs coming up with ideas on their own to basically think of a usecase FOR Apple

 

[TheLunaPark]

I love how the article writer tries to come up with any excuse apart from just raising the idea that perhaps not many people are interested in VR outside niche markets. Maybe hardly anyone cares?

 

[Johnny907]

Ahh. They're not offering labs outside of the one in Cupertino.

Well, US developers only have one city option. No wonder the numbers are low.

I wonder how many people actually read the article on here. Lol. It doesn't seem like many from the responses.

Yeah, because *everyone* knows SJC is such a nightmare to fly in/out of.
I mean they may as well be flying to the MOOOOOOOOON!
Couldn't be because this is an expensive niche product with dubious demand and severe supply constraints leading most devs that aren't being shepherded by Apple to take a wait and see approach.

 

[Tdude96]

Very disappointed with the small-minded responses on this thread - they seem more like standard YouTube trolls than people who have followed Apple and the tech industry.

Vision has no use case? It displays *anything anywhere* without needing a PC/console and without completely disconnecting you from others, has spatial audio without covering your ears, and the interface doesn’t require hardware controllers. Even just using windowed apps in an immersive environment looks amazing. People at WWDC were moved to tears by the 3D camera (“Dystopia!” Or how about you detach the straps and film holding it in your hands? 🤷🏻‍♂️). The potential for integration with AppleTV+, Apple Films, Apple Music, NextVR (sports), and Disney is huge.

Is this not the sci-fi holy grail of personal computing people have been imagining for decades (albeit with some first-gen limitations)? Apple fans, have we not seen Apple tackle things like battery life, size, price, nascent app ecosystems, and social skepticism a dozen times in the past 25 years?

iMac: looks fruity and unprofessional! Doesn’t even have a floppy drive!
iPod: expensive, over-engineered museum piece
Mac OS X: all eye candy, missing features
iTunes: nobody will buy digital music! People have CDs & Napster
iPhone: 3x as expensive as a Blackberry, no keyboard, 3G, or third party apps
iPad: nobody wants a giant iPhone with a silly feminine hygiene name
MacBook Air: form over function, nobody wants a computer missing a CD drive
Apple Watch: clearly just for nerds and tech fashionistas; FitBit beat them to the punch!
AirPods: OMG it looks like you have cotton swabs in your ears.

Time after time, the short-sighted people make their digs. And 2-4 years later everyone and their mom wants one, and they’ve moved on to hating the next thing.

Btw it doesn’t need to sell 200 million units like the iPhone to be successful. How many Studio and XDR displays, or Mac Pros, or Mac Studios does Apple sell at $2K-$6K? Hell, even the most successful Macs sell something like 1/50th the unit sales as iPhone.

I agree, there seems to be a huge lack of imagination when people are discussing the Vision Pro, and I don't understand why. There are so many amazing uses the technology could be put to aside from "games and pr0n" which is why it's great that Apple's putting a product out that isn't that limited. Sure, it can be used for gaming, which is good. But it has a whole realm of other possibilities just waiting to be seized upon for productivity, entertainment, relaxation, science, health, engineering, and education.

The other thing that's bothered me, which ties into the lack of imagination is the question "what's the killer app." According to Steve Jobs, the killer app on iPhone is making calls. Would anyone still consider that the "killer app"? What percentage of time do most people actually spend on iPhone making calls? What was the "killer app" on Apple Watch? The question makes no sense. It seems to be a short way of saying, "I don't have an imagination, someone must tell me how to use it." It's a baffling mindset.

Back on-topic for this article, it seems like Apple could use some more developer labs, unless developers are mostly planning to just use the developer kit. We obviously don't have those numbers to see. But if opening more labs makes sense, New York City seems to be an obvious place to have a lab, and personally I'd think Miami and Seattle as well if they see additional uptake by opening one in NYC.

 

[vertsix]

Very disappointed with the small-minded responses on this thread - they seem more like standard YouTube trolls than people who have followed Apple and the tech industry.

Vision has no use case? It displays *anything anywhere* without needing a PC/console and without completely disconnecting you from others, has spatial audio without covering your ears, and the interface doesn’t require hardware controllers. Even just using windowed apps in an immersive environment looks amazing. People at WWDC were moved to tears by the 3D camera (“Dystopia!” Or how about you detach the straps and film holding it in your hands? 🤷🏻‍♂️). The potential for integration with AppleTV+, Apple Films, Apple Music, NextVR (sports), and Disney is huge.

Is this not the sci-fi holy grail of personal computing people have been imagining for decades (albeit with some first-gen limitations)? Apple fans, have we not seen Apple tackle things like battery life, size, price, nascent app ecosystems, and social skepticism a dozen times in the past 25 years?

iMac: looks fruity and unprofessional! Doesn’t even have a floppy drive!
iPod: expensive, over-engineered museum piece
Mac OS X: all eye candy, missing features
iTunes: nobody will buy digital music! People have CDs & Napster
iPhone: 3x as expensive as a Blackberry, no keyboard, 3G, or third party apps
iPad: nobody wants a giant iPhone with a silly feminine hygiene name
MacBook Air: form over function, nobody wants a computer missing a CD drive
Apple Watch: clearly just for nerds and tech fashionistas; FitBit beat them to the punch!
AirPods: OMG it looks like you have cotton swabs in your ears.

Time after time, the short-sighted people make their digs. And 2-4 years later everyone and their mom wants one, and they’ve moved on to hating the next thing.

Btw it doesn’t need to sell 200 million units like the iPhone to be successful. How many Studio and XDR displays, or Mac Pros, or Mac Studios does Apple sell at $2K-$6K? Hell, even the most successful Macs sell something like 1/50th the unit sales as iPhone.

Tim Cook here. I approve this post. Thanks for the free marketing! Anyway, let me return to organizing my briefcases of cash.

 

[nfl46]

Yeah, because *everyone* knows SJC is such a nightmare to fly in/out of.
I mean they may as well be flying to the MOOOOOOOOON!
Couldn't be because this is an expensive niche product with dubious demand and severe supply constraints leading most devs that aren't being shepherded by Apple to take a wait and see approach.

That's still extra money coming out of their pockets when they could just drive 15-20 minutes to a location in their city. They have to book flights, rent cars, book hotels, use vacation time off of work, etc. That's unnecessary and cumbersome.

 

[macduke]

This is interesting. Contrast this situation with the iPhone, which had no dev kit, and yet there was a thriving community of developers figuring out how to hack and add apps to it.

Back then there were so many developers blogging and offering downloads and videos of their various apps and exploits. Developers were clamoring for that platform to open up and come to life. You can bet your ass that people would’ve traveled to Cupertino globally for an early lab on the iPhone. It would’ve been overloaded. And yet with this platform, there is hardly any interest? Speaks volumes.

Apple royally screwed up by making this such an exclusive luxury item. You could get an iPhone for $499 at launch and $299 a few months later. This caused massive market share growth and a vibrant app community. Rumors suggest the advanced components for this thing will be so supply constrained that they may only sell 250-300K units in the first year. That is tiny even compared to the original iPhone which sold about 5M units.

People can barely afford cars and rent nowadays, much less a $3500 toy that only fits on their specific face with their specific prescription. At least when I bought an iPad in 2010 for $499 I could share it with my wife and we used it as a general computer and entertainment device. This thing is just stupid by comparison. Not to mention it will launch with an M2 after the M3 is already out. That’s just icing on the cake.

I hate to pull out this old trope, but I think it’s actually deserved: Steve never would’ve allowed this.

 

[brk6000]

I can think of a lot of applications that would be interesting to me. Apple's whole AR approach of overlaying things into the real world seems to be the main area of opportunity as opposed to full immersive VR with large screens, etc. (Although I think that will be pretty nice itself).

Imagine one day being able to stand in an open field outdoors and suddenly be surrounded by a prehistoric world full of dinosaurs roaming around, or anywhere for that matter.

Cabinet makers could wear the headset and see the exact holes they need to drill or cuts to make overlayed onto the surface. Companies like Ikea could provide an app that walks them through furniture assembly, highlighting each piece, etc.

You could walk into a room and design it with wall colors, furniture, etc in a much more realistic way than we've seen so far.

Language learning... being able to walk around and look at objects, see and hear the translated words when you make eye contact.

Just a few thoughts. Not sure how feasible they are at the moment especially with being outdoors.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

For anyone serious about developing for this technology, price is not a hurdle. Heck, in 1984 the first Macintosh was $2,495.

My first Mac in 2001 was the Titanium PowerBook G4, which cost $3,499 + $99 for an airport card.

 

[harriska2]

Not one of those three things you mentioned cost $3,500 to start with.

Not one of them.

Then, a mobile phone, we've all had one and knew what the deal is;
Earphones/headphones, same thing;
A watch — a smart watch, anyone could see there is potential…

This Apple Vision Pro is a whole different ball game.

Few people are going to splash out $x,000s to try something out and walk away from if they find no use for it.

My new iphone mini 12 $500, new watch S6 $289, new airpods pro 2 $199 = $998

 

[iLondoner]

"One issue is that Apple is not offering U.S. developer labs outside of Cupertino, which means any developer that wants to try the Vision Pro must travel to Apple's headquarters in California."

I can't believe that's the real reason for low turnout. In the 1970s-1990s I often flew across the Atlantic to visit HP Cupertino.

 

[Mr. Dee]

If it doesn't do well, Apple will keep it on the market as a Vision Pro v0 and keep reiterating with new models until eventually catches on. But no, I don't see myself spending that kinda money either.

 

[madrigal77]

This thing is DOA.