How do you feel Apple will get over the hump of the post hype launch

[Piggie]

This is something I'm still having problems myself working out just how Apple is going to deal with this.

So, we now have perhaps 6 months of very slow burn interest that's going to fade a bit before warming up a little before launch.
We are then going to have the actual launch, together with the initial release of 1st gen Apps the amazing devs have put together (based on Apple's early day restrictions of course.

We shall get 100's of YouTube reviews, We'll get the enthusiasts on here raving about the image quality etc.
And of course we'll get people with spare cash who simply want to see what all the hype is about.

There will of course be some complaints about red-face, makeup coming off your face, headaches, sickness and I'm sure a few unexpected bugs, and things Apple needs to fix.

This is going to go on for a few months I'm sure, there will be this initial bombardment all over the place.
Depending on availability, almost everyone who is willing to pay for one, will get one.

We will see some go up for sale second hand after some who were initially impressed and who have tried all the things it can do, come to realise they are still just happy to carry on with the current Apple products and may consider a headset again in the future once they get smaller and lighter with better battery life etc etc.....

I can see as months go by news gradually drops off, you see the odd story about an update, and a new App/Game but we'll very soon hit that bump in the road where many are over the initial excitement, new models that we really want to wear are many years away.

Normal ? People may get excited by VR and may look around and decide something like the Quest 3 is worth a look at so I do think Meta are going to benefit from this launch from Apple also.

But then, what's Apple's plan?
They will pretty quickly saturate the market that are willing to consider this early model price point.
And honestly, even if they came out with a $1000 consumer model, which I think it me very very over optimistic price wise, they are still going to struggle with mass market.

The Mass market is there for sure, but at a Price and Form factor I feel we are perhaps 5+ to 10 years away from.

I could suggest that a major issue is it's not solving a problem for people.
One could come up with various arguments as to why a iPhone, Watch, Laptop, Tablet all solve problems and make your life easier.
A headset is a nice, enjoyable, exciting, immersive, additional experience you can have, but it's a negative I feel to wear it, it's in the way etc etc.

IMHO Enthusiasts for Apple and hopefully if Apple does not screw it up VR Gaming people could love it.
But that's not normal people.

I feel Apple must know all of this and they are in it for the long haul.
I'd like to think this.

But then, they totally misunderstood the market with the Trashcan mac and the original homepod, so they are not always as clever, or perhaps don't want to listen as much as we think they should be doing.

It's going to be very interesting to see if they are able to maintain their drive pushing the product once it becomes very niche and they don't see the mass market picking it up.

Love to hear your thoughts on how we will be talking about this in a year or two's time.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

This is something I'm still having problems myself working out just how Apple is going to deal with this.

So, we now have perhaps 6 months of very slow burn interest that's going to fade a bit before warming up a little before launch.
We are then going to have the actual launch, together with the initial release of 1st gen Apps the amazing devs have put together (based on Apple's early day restrictions of course.

Just like the iPhone. The iPhone had the same lull. It was announced in MacWorld in January 2007 and didn't come out until six months later.

We shall get 100's of YouTube reviews, We'll get the enthusiasts on here raving about the image quality etc.
And of course we'll get people with spare cash who simply want to see what all the hype is about.

Like me!

There will of course be some complaints about red-face, makeup coming off your face, headaches, sickness and I'm sure a few unexpected bugs, and things Apple needs to fix.

VR Face has been a complaint with any HMD for a long time and everytime it's people wearing the headset too tight.

This is going to go on for a few months I'm sure, there will be this initial bombardment all over the place.
Depending on availability, almost everyone who is willing to pay for one, will get one.

We will see some go up for sale second hand after some who were initially impressed and who have tried all the things it can do, come to realise they are still just happy to carry on with the current Apple products and may consider a headset again in the future once they get smaller and lighter with better battery life etc etc.....

I can see as months go by news gradually drops off, you see the odd story about an update, and a new App/Game but we'll very soon hit that bump in the road where many are over the initial excitement, new models that we really want to wear are many years away.

Normal ? People may get excited by VR and may look around and decide something like the Quest 3 is worth a look at so I do think Meta are going to benefit from this launch from Apple also.

This isn't a new occurrence. Everytime Apple launches a new product category this happens. Happened with the first iPhone, happened with the first iPad, happened with the first Apple Watch. And it will definitely happen with the Vision Pro.

People forget the iPhone originally launched without an app store, and was locked to an AT&T plan. People forget the Apple Watch Series 0 originally costed $600, some models going over a thousand because of the bands, and there was even a $10,000 solid gold one. This is the price you pay for being an early adopter.

But then, what's Apple's plan?
They will pretty quickly saturate the market that are willing to consider this early model price point.
And honestly, even if they came out with a $1000 consumer model, which I think it me very very over optimistic price wise, they are still going to struggle with mass market.

Just like with the Apple Watch Series 0, throw the new product out and make it the best you can, no matter the cost, and see what people like and don't like, and then shape it appropriately for the next generation. As an early adopter you're shaping the future of the product category. Those iPhone early adopters kept trying to jailbreak their iPhones which lead to the creation of the app store. The first Apple Watch users prioritized the health and exercise functions which lead Apple to focus more on wellbeing with the Apple Watch.

You can't learn without failure, so even if the Vision Pro doesn't move many units (which it won't at that pricepoint) the engineers and marketing teams won't know what to do for gen 2 without releasing gen 1. They'll see what people are doing with the headset and what people liked and don't like and plan the consumer model around that. Right now the big things that has people interested in it is using it as a Mac monitor, and using it as a personal IMAX theater, so they'll probably plan the Apple Vision in 2025 around content consumption, rather than creation.

The Mass market is there for sure, but at a Price and Form factor I feel we are perhaps 5+ to 10 years away from.

Nah it's not gonna be that far away. The iPhone and Apple Watch didn't stay overpriced forever. The original iPhone costed $500 (which is $800 now adjusting for inflation) and required an AT&T plan. Then a year later came it's successor the iPhone 3G that was considerably cheaper, starting at $200.

They know the Apple Vision Pro costs too much for general consumers which is why they're working on getting a consumer model ready fast, as if they don't get units out to a wider audience, that means no revenue from the visionOS app store.

I could suggest that a major issue is it's not solving a problem for people.
One could come up with various arguments as to why a iPhone, Watch, Laptop, Tablet all solve problems and make your life easier.
A headset is a nice, enjoyable, exciting, immersive, additional experience you can have, but it's a negative I feel to wear it, it's in the way etc etc.

The funny thing is people say this everytime whenever a new product category comes out. People hated the iPad originally, calling it an upscaled iPod Touch. "It's just a iPod Touch but bigger. Why would I need this? It's so pointless. Apple fanboys once again licking Steve Jobs' boots."

But once the headset comes out, people will see what they could actually do with it and understand why it exists. Happened with the iPhone, happened with the iPad, happened with the Apple Watch, and it will happen with Vision.

IMHO Enthusiasts for Apple and hopefully if Apple does not screw it up VR Gaming people could love it.
But that's not normal people.

The irony is most Apple fanboys hated the idea of Apple doing a headset, while the VR crowd, an audience that is primarily PC and Android users, were the ones who were begging Apple to make a headset as that would change public perception of the XR industry.

I feel Apple must know all of this and they are in it for the long haul.
I'd like to think this.

But then, they totally misunderstood the market with the Trashcan mac and the original homepod, so they are not always as clever, or perhaps don't want to listen as much as we think they should be doing.

They are a business lmao. Y'all seem to keep forgetting that. It's not a single entity running the company. Tim Cook isn't Steve Jobs in terms of his management, constantly micromanaging new projects.

It's going to be very interesting to see if they are able to maintain their drive pushing the product once it becomes very niche and they don't see the mass market picking it up.

Love to hear your thoughts on how we will be talking about this in a year or two's time.

We're gonna be talking about this everyday lmao. It's a new Apple Product category, something we haven't had since the Apple Watch (or if you wanna get more technical since the Watch is more an iPhone accessory, a new main product category since the iPad in 2010)

 

[bkkcanuck8]

The orders will outstrip the supply for at least the first year (based on current conditions)... that by itself will drive envy... don't need much more than that... but they will... they will have another event (probably spring event) where they will show the completed software for it and 3rd party apps from some major developers... I really don't see the lull as much of a problem... many of us will are hyped about trying it out and get it... but won't be able to because we are in the wrong country (I am not moving back to the United States... been there, done that).

 

[Piggie]

I will fully admit I want to try the Vision Pro.
My own personal problem is that I don't want to do any of the things Apple showed of as examples.
Apart from BIG screen TV in your room.
I want it for entertainment, experiences, things I cannot get from normal? products.
My reason for putting on a headset is to get away from the real world and have a experience I can't have sitting in my home normally.
Be that a game or exploring the world or some virtual exercise.

That said I do sometimes wear glasses and if AR was built into my glasses, sure I'd wear those also.
But I WANT a fully immersive experience, and we can all see this is not the direction Apple is wanting to go down right now.

So yes it's a bit weird that I want a Vision Pro, but specifically to do things Apple don't appear to want it to be doing

I am worried it's going to take longer to get it cheap enough quickly enough, but I hope I'm wrong about that.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

I will fully admit I want to try the Vision Pro.

Good thing demo units will be available at every Apple Store, which is why I'm not buying day one, I'm gonna try it on at the Apple Store then decide if I wanna get the Vision Pro, or wait for the consumer model.

My own personal problem is that I don't want to do any of the things Apple showed of as examples.

Well good thing you don't have to. You control the buttons that you press

A lot of things that Apple showed as use case examples for past product categories never became real things. Example: The Apple Watch originally advertised that you could share your heart rate with a loved one's Apple Watch to "get closer together." Not a single person used that lmao.

Again: they just throwing everything out and seeing what will stick, and I guarantee one of the things that isn't gonna stick are the 3D cameras since it's way too Black Mirror for people.

Apart from BIG screen TV in your room.
I want it for entertainment, experiences, things I cannot get from normal? products.
My reason for putting on a headset is to get away from the real world and have a experience I can't have sitting in my home normally.
Be that a game or exploring the world or some virtual exercise.

Then the Vision Pro isn't for you, the Meta Quest is. The Vision Pro is meant to be a general computer that puts the computer around your space. Virtual Reality is scarcely used on it, if at all, which is why they don't even mention VR at all and just refer to it as "spatial computing."

That said I do sometimes wear glasses and if AR was built into my glasses, sure I'd wear those also.
But I WANT a fully immersive experience, and we can all see this is not the direction Apple is wanting to go down right now.

You know the Vision Pro lenses are available in custom prescription, and have a glasses spacer so you can wear glasses with it.

So yes it's a bit weird that I want a Vision Pro, but specifically to do things Apple don't appear to want it to be doing

I am worried it's going to take longer to get it cheap enough quickly enough, but I hope I'm wrong about that.

Again, they know $3500 is too much so they're working quickly to get the consumer model out soon. Recently they bought Mira Labs who specializes in mass production of mixed reality headsets. Their skills will most likely be put into figuring out how to get the Apple Vision to be easy to manufacture and as cheap as possible.

 

[Piggie]

Then the Vision Pro isn't for you, the Meta Quest is. The Vision Pro is meant to be a general computer that puts the computer around your space. Virtual Reality is scarcely used on it, if at all, which is why they don't even mention VR at all and just refer to it as "spatial computing."

But is that down to Apple or down to the devs?

I know it won't happen due to ownership, but imagine is Beatsabre, Msoft Flight Sim, Walkabout Mini golf etc etc
were submitted to Apple for the Vision Pro App store. Do we think Apple would say yes great we love those things for people who wish to use the Vision Pro for immersive entertainment?
Or do we think Apple would turn up their nose and say we don't want our AR device being used for such things.

IMHO that would be a GIANT mistake as those are the people who have the potential to be a large part of your market audience.
I guess we shall see.

Oh and yes I shall be buying a Quest 3 as soon as I can of course

 

[Analog Kid]

I know it won't happen due to ownership, but imagine is Beatsabre, Msoft Flight Sim, Walkabout Mini golf etc etc
were submitted to Apple for the Vision Pro App store. Do we think Apple would say yes great we love those things for people who wish to use the Vision Pro for immersive entertainment?
Or do we think Apple would turn up their nose and say we don't want our AR device being used for such things.

I think this is an interesting question, actually. If Apple has a new vision for what spatial computing is but all of the devs are still caught up in the old way of thinking based on the Occulus stuff, how does Apple react? They could try to set human interface guidelines and use that as a gate to the AppStore, but I suspect they won't. Remember the year of fart apps for iPhone? Apple let them on the store, as silly and tasteless as they were for the fantastic hardware they ran on.

Apple has a tendency to release "you must be this tall to ride" apps in various spaces to force a baseline experience. iWork fits that model, Photos, and others. There's no point making a photo manager crappier than Photos because no one will buy it. I expect Apple would seed the market with baseline apps if it sees a lack of imagination in the developer class.

 

[bkkcanuck8]

But is that down to Apple or down to the devs?

I know it won't happen due to ownership, but imagine is Beatsabre, Msoft Flight Sim, Walkabout Mini golf etc etc
were submitted to Apple for the Vision Pro App store. Do we think Apple would say yes great we love those things for people who wish to use the Vision Pro for immersive entertainment?
Or do we think Apple would turn up their nose and say we don't want our AR device being used for such things.

IMHO that would be a GIANT mistake as those are the people who have the potential to be a large part of your market audience.
I guess we shall see.

Oh and yes I shall be buying a Quest 3 as soon as I can of course

The simple answer is yes, Apple would approve games like Beat Saber or Microsoft Flight Sim etc. The reason why Apple did not demo any games is because they were demoing basically the device and the operating system, and there was not enough time to have reasonable port / demonstration of anything game related. If there was something good enough to show off the capabilities of the device - like a realistic full control panel Microsoft Flight Simulator... they would likely be demoed by Apple and Microsoft before the device was released. Simply put, they don't want to show off something that is just a direct copy from other platforms or does not show off the possibilities of the platform, but they would not refuse any games that are available for it.

 

[Abazigal]

It's going to be very interesting to see if they are able to maintain their drive pushing the product once it becomes very niche and they don't see the mass market picking it up.

The problem I see is that most of the discussion thus far centres around the technology side of the vision pro, and very little on what makes it cool. For example, we see Apple taking pains to showcase how it can be used in public (this is a very personal decision which cannot be tackled by using technology alone; just look at Google Glass). I think this will be crucial to mass acceptance of said product, and not just a meme product where people use it to consume porn in their bedroom.

Personally, I think we can take a page from how Apple has leveraged product branding over the years to strengthen their ecosystem. Just a couple off the top of my head.

1) The iPhone home button, protruding camera bump and notch are often seen more as branding opportunities rather than design tradeoffs, and it shows in how Apple has chosen to embrace, rather than minimise them. This makes Apple products readily recognisable, and I think it's something that often goes under appreciated when people discuss about how Apple needs to invest more resources in reducing the size of the camera bump or notch. That a lot of these supposed drawbacks are also part of what makes an Apple product uniquely an Apple product.

2) The Apple Watch with its signature square design, the white AirPods stem are also part of what make them "cool", in a world where other wireless earbuds have no stem and smartwatches go round in a bid to differentiate themselves (to little avail). You can recognise a pair of AirPods or an Apple Watch a mile away (at least I can).

The vision pro headset design looks like it could become another iconic part of the product, especially if people are comfortable draping it around their heads the same way people hang headphones around their necks when not in use. I think this is what will make people want to own the Vision Pro even if there are cheaper, more powerful alternatives on the market.

I don't know if I am being coherent enough in my thoughts here. It's a Sat morning and I am just killing time before I have to leave for work (there's a school event going on).

 

[Isamilis]

deleted.

 

[Piggie]

It's an interesting tactic when it comes to new product sales if you think about it.

We have our own higher spec'd version of an existing product we wish to launch.
It will be better in many ways than the devices people have been using over past years.

Our plan is to 'officially ignore what we know the people currently use these type of products have bought them for, and enjoy them for what they can do.

We are going instead to focus on customers who have no interest in these products, and show them our ideas of what such a device can do, in the hope we can persuade this group who didn't want such a device before to buy one.

Note: I know why they are doing it, but it's a very different tactic and will be interesting to see how it works.

A bit like building a car and ignoring why current car owners have bought their cars and what they use them for, and trying to sell your new car to people who have never really wanted a car before.

Again, I understand what they are hoping for, but still, all that said, I am still pretty surprised (and I know I'm not alone here) that Apple did not include at least one or two all encompassing immersive experiences for the people who are looking for that past of the package.

Unless of course, they just assume those current users will buy it anyway, so no need to bother, all our focus is going to be on the people who up till now don't want to wear a device on their face.

It's going to be a fun year+ watching how they steer this product after seeing your iPad app and Mac screen on a floating window novelty has worn off, and they look for new experiences if they are then going to change direction a little.

 

[coolbreeze2]

I am obsessed with the abstract idea of Vision Pro. I state it like that because I have not seen nor experienced the device. Yet, I have been thinking about it daily and frustrated that I have to wait at least six months if not longer to get one in hand. I am not a gamer. So gaming limitations do not bother me at all. I want to use the device using Apple applications like Logic Pro (along with my Mac), Safari, Facetime, Books, and Keynote. I also look forward to using Office 365 for Mac and other applications. Oh yea, and Parallels running Windows 11. Watching movies, one of my favorite pastimes is going to be mind-blowing. I will be glad when my excitement dies down!