Sketchy Rumor Says Vision Pro Will Launch in Final Week of January

[mattopotamus]

You mean like when 3D movies died 10 years ago?

Sure, but if you have 3D done right at home, it was incredible.

 

[citysnaps]

It is somewhat depressing how some of the enthusiasts here are looking forward to taking spatial videos of their family members. I hope they do have enough time left to actually have a conversation or play with the kids/grandkids, not just be a bystander who takes pictures and videos.

My niece somtimes get's really annoyed when the grownups constantly take pictures of her ... and rightly so.

Why worry about what other people like to do, if it makes them happy having past encounters/experiences with family to enjoy?

 

[spartan1967]

I think these goggles will go the way of the 3D TV as soon as the novelty wears off. No matter how advanced the technology will be, there is simply no practical use for these even in a business setting.

How long will someone wear these before feeling the fatigue of this wrapped around their face? With companies continuing to try & get back people back in the office for face to face time, how much will they invest in this? What will you be able to do with this that you will not be able to accomplish already with tested technology that already exists (sans the VR experience that will yield to the novelty factor)?

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Sure, but if you have 3D done right at home, it was incredible.

They still failed, hard. People didn't like wearing the glasses and didn't think the movies/tvs were worth the extra cost.

I've seen several 3d movies, and saw a couple on 3d tvs too, but never really understood the appeal. They were fine, but I didn't enjoy them more than a regular 2d movie.

 

[mattopotamus]

They still failed, hard. People didn't like wearing the glasses and didn't think the movies/tvs were worth the extra cost.

I've seen several 3d movies, and saw a couple on 3d tvs too, but never really understood the appeal. They were fine, but I didn't enjoy them more than a regular 2d movie.

I understand that. Personally, the original Avatar in 3D is still the best movie experience I have ever had. I think what really hurt 3D was that initially Panasonic had a lock on it and it was all active 3D, which is terrible. It really wasn't until 4K TVs that had passive 3D that 3D at home became good, and by that point it was already dead. Also, the fact so many 3D movies were just post conversion and not shot in 3D like Avatar.

I really would like to see Legacy of Monsters on the Apple Vision.

 

[MilaM]

if it makes them happy having past encounters/experiences with family

I'm just observing. It seems like sometimes people confuse the actual experience with the act of taking photos/videos/spatial video.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

I’ll add that those folks on here saying this isn’t for entertainment, but is instead for spatial computing are trying to put this in a box of their own making. I believe it’s up to the individual consumer to decide what it can be used for. I would be interested in its entertainment applications (like 3D movie experiences), but I fully recognize that others may not care as much about that aspect.

what makes watching entertainment not spatial computing?
Just as watching a 2D movie on my iMac is regular computing, watching a 3D movie on the vision Pro is still spatial computing.

Except for Apple blogs I guess, where the only thing considered real computing is using a $7000 MacBook Pro to export video.

Also, jumping in here to say, the iPad is a general computer.
Just because it’s locked down, does not change that fact.

macOS is more locked down than windows, and iPadOS is more locked down than macOS. All of these are general computing operating systems, and there’s no changing that.

 

[macos9rules]

If you want to try it, remember that Apple has a 15-day return policy.

 

[okieoutwest]

I remember the hype about HDTV. TV was going to go digital and it would open up new possibilities for entertainment. TV's were also going to be flat, and you would be able to hang them on the wall like a painting. This was the late 80s and early 90s, and I couldn't wait to see it happen. Well, I could wait. I did wait. A decade went by before I saw my first HDTV with my own eyes, and they were so expensive, especially the flat ones. Slightly more affordable were the HDTV sets made with good old reliable cathode ray tubes.

Boy, HDTV sure was a bust.

Even more of a bust was the idea of the paperless office. During the 1990s we were promised that with Email and the "Internet", we wouldn't need to use so much paper. But the opposite thing happened! People would receive emails, but reading them on their desktop monitors was just not comfortable, and what if you needed the information when you were away from your desk? Solution: Print out the emails. We were using more paper than ever. The Paperless office was never going to happen in the real world.

Then one day around 2009 I was being given a tour of a metal factory in Hereford, UK, and the man showing me the facility pointed to a multi-story building on their campus. Those were where they used to keep all of the paper records of their sales and accounts and the results of their quality tests. All of it was in the computer now, and they rented space in that building to other companies.

And the HDTV revolution happened as well.

The hype was true. Things just happen when they're ready. And in ways that don't always match the blue sky predictions.

Apple isn't Theranos, by the way. Apple's key to success is delivering products that make their customer's satisfied.

With respect, and acknowledging I am not old enough to have been around to experience the hype trains for either HDTV or email and the earliest Internet, I wouldn’t characterize the AVP as the same type of tech evolution.

Also higher resolution video improved something that has already been around for almost a century. An easy sell, once the devices got cheap enough.

I agree with this.

But going back to doelcm82’s reply to me, I wasn’t trying to say Apple and Theranos are the same company at all. What I am pointing to is a culture and environment in the SF Bay Area that pushes a lot of ideas now much further than makes sense, and I am waiting to see if AVP is one of them. Other examples include FTX as a symbol for the decade of crypto hype. OpenAI may look the same - with its own path but similar outcome - after some time.

I don’t think that just because of past performance that Apple’s people are immune to this very prevalent and very powerful culture.

 

[reyesmac]

This is one of those products that has to be announced early and available later to give people months to save up money. I could see it launch around tax rebate time or Christmas but thats about it. And all developers would have time to create are glorified tech demos. I think Apple would need to have some sort of update that makes many more software compatible with this automatically. So that it doesn't look like there is little to do while developers create more apps that take full advantage of the device.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

Ready and waiting. Hoping we can order online rather than a store visit. Happy to go in for fit, however. We are almost there!

Native Office was a nice addition to productivity on the quest recently. That has already become a viable budget computer. Can't wait to see what Apple has native and how they integrate the Mac content. Expecting some magic there.

Apple had better do something 100x better than this. I would last about 5 minutes doing this with my Quest 3.

 

[tomtad]

I remember the hype about HDTV. TV was going to go digital and it would open up new possibilities for entertainment. TV's were also going to be flat, and you would be able to hang them on the wall like a painting. This was the late 80s and early 90s, and I couldn't wait to see it happen. Well, I could wait. I did wait. A decade went by before I saw my first HDTV with my own eyes, and they were so expensive, especially the flat ones. Slightly more affordable were the HDTV sets made with good old reliable cathode ray tubes.

Boy, HDTV sure was a bust.

Even more of a bust was the idea of the paperless office. During the 1990s we were promised that with Email and the "Internet", we wouldn't need to use so much paper. But the opposite thing happened! People would receive emails, but reading them on their desktop monitors was just not comfortable, and what if you needed the information when you were away from your desk? Solution: Print out the emails. We were using more paper than ever. The Paperless office was never going to happen in the real world.

Then one day around 2009 I was being given a tour of a metal factory in Hereford, UK, and the man showing me the facility pointed to a multi-story building on their campus. Those were where they used to keep all of the paper records of their sales and accounts and the results of their quality tests. All of it was in the computer now, and they rented space in that building to other companies.

And the HDTV revolution happened as well.

The hype was true. Things just happen when they're ready. And in ways that don't always match the blue sky predictions.

Apple isn't Theranos, by the way. Apple's key to success is delivering products that make their customer's satisfied.

Given the added headwear I believe this product has much more in common with 3D TV than HD TVs and paperless offices.

Do you remember in the early 2010s you couldn't go into a electronic shop without it being filled with 3D TVs, that was the way the industry was going and now everyone was going to get a 3D TV. Stuff would all be filmed in 3D. This was the future. Most new films were in 3D as well at cinemas. Yes they'd tried this before but this time the technology was there and it was going to happen.

Except as we know it didn't. Yes a lot of 3D TVs were sold but after you'd watched a few films on them and then someone came round and you didn't have enough glasses so you went back to the flat screen. And the 3D films at cinemas slowly dropped off after the novelty had worn off (again). Now it would be bizarre to see a 3D film advertised in a cinema.

Fundamentally Vision Pro just doesn't do anything substantially different to what you can already achieve. I think the penny dropped when Tim Cook was asked in an interview what he was using his Vision Pro for and his response was he watched Ted Lasso, an experience which surely would be much better shared with someone on the screen you already have at home.

Yes there will always be applications which are useful such as 3D modelling and rendering, gaming also looks interesting and it's a neat demo, but once you'd tried it will it really stick? I'm really not sure it will.

 

[tomtad]

Ready and waiting. Hoping we can order online rather than a store visit. Happy to go in for fit, however. We are almost there!

Native Office was a nice addition to productivity on the quest recently. That has already become a viable budget computer. Can't wait to see what Apple has native and how they integrate the Mac content. Expecting some magic there.

Why wouldn't I just use a screen for this?

 

[Polinsky]

It’s gonna be hot garbage

This comment will absolutely NOT dissuade me from being first in line to buy one. And I'm not going to let you try them!

 

[jimbobb24]

Given the added headwear I believe this product has much more in common with 3D TV than HD TVs and paperless offices.

Do you remember in the early 2010s you couldn't go into a electronic shop without it being filled with 3D TVs, that was the way the industry was going and now everyone was going to get a 3D TV. Stuff would all be filmed in 3D. This was the future. Most new films were in 3D as well at cinemas. Yes they'd tried this before but this time the technology was there and it was going to happen.

Except as we know it didn't. Yes a lot of 3D TVs were sold but after you'd watched a few films on them and then someone came round and you didn't have enough glasses so you went back to the flat screen. And the 3D films at cinemas slowly dropped off after the novelty had worn off (again). Now it would be bizarre to see a 3D film advertised in a cinema.

Fundamentally Vision Pro just doesn't do anything substantially different to what you can already achieve. I think the penny dropped when Tim Cook was asked in an interview what he was using his Vision Pro for and his response was he watched Ted Lasso, an experience which surely would be much better shared with someone on the screen you already have at home.

Yes there will always be applications which are useful such as 3D modelling and rendering, gaming also looks interesting and it's a neat demo, but once you'd tried it will it really stick? I'm really not sure it will.

WHy 3D failed is a very complicated issue...but in part Hollywood did it to themselves. Only James Cameron seemed to actually take the tech serious and so he produced the one amazing 3D experience in Avatar which kept 3D limping around for a decade more while the rest of the movies produced were usually converted to 3D or had terrible 3D. Very few other 3D experiences compared and so the tech died not just because the glasses but because the media was trash.

This problem still exists and is why as pure consumption tool the AVP is probably doomed...because most media made will be cheap garbage 3D. Why is the only demo movie shown Avatar 2? Because it is the only other movie that is truly great in 3D. But the TV and glasses are still better than the AVP because you can watch with multiple people.

So...unless AVP is actually useful productively it dies because there isn't enough great media to be worth a single user viewing device that costs $3500. So the question will come down to can real people use it productively? I think people experimenting with it in productivity environments (like me) will try it out to get to a gen 2 but unless it ultimately can be productive it will die. It only needs to sell in small numbers to continue.

 

[pjschwartz]

Looking forward to this evolving for the masses . . . Meta Quest 3 is very useable for the time being, but it was definitely engineered and built for a low price point target, and that shows . . .

 

[8KYUP]

Why wouldn't I just use a screen for this?

Hi if you're talking about a single monitor on your computer, you would need three to accomplish what they have there. Also, keep in mind that this is a $499 device so it makes a very inexpensive multi monitor solution. In the video, they show the monitors in small mode, but keep in mind that these can be made lifesize and wraparound. The monitors also don't need to be used just for office. Multiple applications can be used at once in multiple monitors. Compare that to an iPad for instance, which is twice the price.

 

[8KYUP]

Apple had better do something 100x better than this. I would last about 5 minutes doing this with my Quest 3.

Try it on your quest I think you'll find it to be a lot better than you think. It works super easily and all on a $499 device. Of course Apple will do much better for $3500. I can't wait.

 

[citysnaps]

Given the added headwear I believe this product has much more in common with 3D TV than HD TVs and paperless offices.

Do you remember in the early 2010s you couldn't go into a electronic shop without it being filled with 3D TVs, that was the way the industry was going and now everyone was going to get a 3D TV. Stuff would all be filmed in 3D. This was the future. Most new films were in 3D as well at cinemas. Yes they'd tried this before but this time the technology was there and it was going to happen.

Except as we know it didn't. Yes a lot of 3D TVs were sold but after you'd watched a few films on them and then someone came round and you didn't have enough glasses so you went back to the flat screen. And the 3D films at cinemas slowly dropped off after the novelty had worn off (again). Now it would be bizarre to see a 3D film advertised in a cinema.

Fundamentally Vision Pro just doesn't do anything substantially different to what you can already achieve. I think the penny dropped when Tim Cook was asked in an interview what he was using his Vision Pro for and his response was he watched Ted Lasso, an experience which surely would be much better shared with someone on the screen you already have at home.

Yes there will always be applications which are useful such as 3D modelling and rendering, gaming also looks interesting and it's a neat demo, but once you'd tried it will it really stick? I'm really not sure it will.

"Fundamentally Vision Pro just doesn't do anything substantially different to what you can already achieve."

Really?

Except AR (at a huge commercial price). Seems very few people here know what AR is.

AVP is much more than just being able to virtually create multiple large size computer displays in your living room space.

 

[robbietop]

Sketchy rumor says it will sell.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

Try it on your quest I think you'll find it to be a lot better than you think. It works super easily and all on a $499 device. Of course Apple will do much better for $3500. I can't wait.

To me, anything involving monitors or windows in VR is vastly inferior to just sitting in front of a real monitor. I'm certainly not going to wear the thing for 8 hours.

 

[MilaM]

simply don't understand the potential shift that is the AVP

I can see the shift, on your bank account 😂. Just kidding.

But seriously. My money supply is not infinite and there are many Apple products I would buy before even considering the headset.

 

[deepspacecowboy]

I mean, we are on a rumors website for an unreleased product that we have very limited knowledge about. And many of the people describing "fantasy" use cases are responding to people who are basically saying that VR/AR in general is next to worthless as a technology.

Fair enough, but one would think that eager fans would be discussing all the cool things they plan to do with it, not all the cool things a future version (not the one they are buying...this is Apple, after all!) will offer.

I don't think the first Vision Pro on its own has the potential to revolutionize how most people use computers. But I am glad that Apple is releasing a product that many people can get value out of now, instead of just iterating in secret for another decade until they think it's a mass market product. I've personally been getting value out of VR technology for almost 8 years now.

I'm also glad they are releasing it. I'm not interested in it and I have strong doubts that this technology will replace the current paradigms (ie: laptops, phones), but I do think it will open up new possibilities. Even if this tech could be miniaturized and fit inside a pair of normal glasses, I don't believe everyone will start wearing glasses instead of using a phone. When I put my phone down, my attention shifts and I like that. I don't think most people will want to see the world through a 24/7 phone screen. I see AR/VR as an add-on. One can imagine all kinds of cool ways of interacting with and modeling information in a 3D space.

I find it more interesting that people who think VR/AR is a worthless technology have hundreds of posts on a nerdy forum about how anti-social VR tech is or how much it sucks in general. (not throwing shade at you, BTW)

Well, what do you expect? I mean, this kind of nerdy back and forth has been going on since the Usenet days. It's not surprising at all to me. What I find interesting is how much Apple fandom has shifted from being excited about tech to celebrating using patents to crush others and constantly talking about profits.

 

[G5isAlive]

It is somewhat depressing how some of the enthusiasts here are looking forward to taking spatial videos of their family members. I hope they do have enough time left to actually have a conversation or play with the kids/grandkids, not just be a bystander who takes pictures and videos.

My niece somtimes get's really annoyed when the grownups constantly take pictures of her ... and rightly so.

Because no one ever, ever takes pictures of family members. Oh wait, they do, because your niece is always complaining they do so they must.

Sorry your comment makes no sense to me. Whole industries have been built on people taking pictures of family members. Photography, digital photography, super 8 film movies, then VHS video cameras. Are you depressed by all of that too?

What does this have to do with AVP?

 

[8KYUP]

To me, anything involving monitors or windows in VR is vastly inferior to just sitting in front of a real monitor. I'm certainly not going to wear the thing for 8 hours.

I love it. Way easier and more efficient than a single real monitor for many tasks and entirely portable. Also amazing how it has improved in such a short time.