Tim Cook Admits Truth About Vision Pro Following Lackluster Sales

[gugy]

While the AVP is a cool product, I can't pass the total nerd factor of wearing ski/diving goggles and a battery pack even at home and I think using it for a prolonged time is just overkill and tiring. No surprise after the initial hype people would discard it. This tech will only make the mainstream once is in a standard glasses form and even then it won't be mass accepted IMO.

 

[anthogag]

From day 1 everyone knew it's not "mass market". Apple is working on a cheaper version for mass market.

Developers should get their act together and use this opportunity to build a great app for Vision Pro. Then, when Apple releases a less expensive mass market version developers would have a better app for the mass market. Not a piece of crap put together at the last minute.

 

[PsykX]

This product is a mess, and a lot of us knew as soon as the crowd groaned when the price was revealed

Oh, yes, we both agree on that.

But 500,000 sales of what we call a messy product, can you believe that? It's at least 5X more than I could have imagined.

 

[ApostolisApo]

Admits what? That a 3,500 $ device is not mass-market? Your click-bait title sounds like Tim Cook was cornered and forced to admit something awful about the device...
MacRumors, you can do better

 

[TechWhisperer]

While other companies are reshaping cutting edge AI technology, Tim Cook is busy fawning over the Vision Pro like it’s a masterpiece. In reality, it’s a $3,500 monument to failure, an embarrassing reminder that Apple is now the slow kid in the tech race.

 

[UltimaKilo]

Let's be clear: Tim Cook rushed this product even though the segment is at least three years away from being a mass-market product.

It's too heavy and bulky, does not have "pass through" AR, the refresh rate is too low and the M2 is nowhere near powerful enough to do everything it is envisioned to do. Couple that with the high price, the very limited Field of View along with the lack of applications and you get the Apple Vision Pro: A half baked product that Cook rushed to market even though rumors suggested a lot of engineers were worried it was not ready for prime time.

 

[progx]

Well… yeah, I never caught the whiff this was a mass market item. It feels very much early adopters. The entire VR/AR market is very niche at the moment, I don’t see it changing in the next 2 years either.

It has the feels of the original iPods, where you paid $400 for a 5GB, Mac only, model. It wasn’t until the 3rd generation and a nano that it went USB and offered iTunes for Windows.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

The Wall Street Journal's Ben Cohen this summer interviewed Apple CEO Tim Cook about the Vision Pro, innovation, Apple Intelligence, and more.

Image Credit: Vanity Fair​

Cook admitted that the Vision Pro headset 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."

In July, research firm IDC estimated that Vision Pro sales would be under 500,000 units this year.

Cohen said Apple's approach to innovation can be described in four words: "Not first, but best."

"We're perfectly fine with not being first," said Cook. "As it turns out, it takes a while to get it really great. It takes a lot of iteration. It takes worrying about every detail. Sometimes, it takes a little longer to do that. We would rather come out with that kind of product and that kind of contribution to people versus running to get something out first. If we can do both, that's fantastic. But if we can only do one, there's no doubt around here. If you talk to 100 people, 100 of them would tell you: It's about being the best."

Cook said Apple Intelligence makes the experience of using Apple products "profoundly different."

"I think we'll look back and it will be one of these air pockets that happened to get you on a different technology curve," said Cook.

The wide-ranging interview touches on many other topics, including Cook's daily routine, lessons he learned from Steve Jobs, and more.

Bloomberg today also published a story about Cook's role on Nike's board of directors, which he joined in 2005. The report states that Cook supported the appointment of Elliott Hill as Nike's new CEO this month, after the shoe maker experienced declining sales and profit this year. Cook is often spotted wearing Nike shoes, and Apple has partnered with Nike on several products and accessories over the past few decades.

Article Link: Tim Cook Admits Truth About Vision Pro Following Lackluster Sales

Watson to Sherlock: "No s*** Sherlock!"

 

[peripatetic]

An anecdote that Tim Cook often shares about how he uses the AVP — laying flat on the sofa watching shows — is just not a possible use case for the vast majority of people. If you're single, sure. If you're retired, sure. But for most people who would have the means to afford an AVP, when does one have time to cut off the outside world and lose yourself in a show while taking up the entire sofa? Good luck with that with kids -- or a wife or a husband. It's a neat idea by Tim. But it's not doable by most of us. Can't Tim come up with a better scenario that we could all imagine using it for?

 

[coffeemilktea]

"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."

In July, research firm IDC estimated that Vision Pro sales would be under 500,000 units this year.

The original iPhone was also a pretty overpriced product for early-adopters, but it sold 1 million units in 74 days.

I think there's a few more truths that Tim really should admit to.

 

[MrRom92]

Not first but best? Someone must’ve missed the memo when it came to FLAC and ALAC

 

[Glideslope]

Let's be clear: Tim Cook rushed this product even though the segment is at least three years away from being a mass-market product.

It's too heavy and bulky, does not have "pass through" AR, the refresh rate is too low and the M2 is nowhere near powerful enough to do everything it is envisioned to do. Couple that with the high price, the very limited Field of View along with the lack of applications and you get the Apple Vision Pro: A half baked product that Cook rushed to market even though rumors suggested a lot of engineers were worried it was not ready for prime time.

My impression was that he was admitting this in a Tim sort of way.....

 

[UltimaKilo]

My impression was that he was admitting this in a Tim sort of way.....

I just don't understand why they would release a product without pass-through AR (tech is still years away), a limited FOV and such a low refresh rate in a bulky and heavy form factor. I was being generous that by 2027 the tech will be there for a mass consumer product. All indications are that it may not be until 2029 for these things.

 

[goonie4life9]

Wow, that's quite the change marketing. When the AVP was announced, Apple said, "The era of spatial computing is here." Now they are saying, "Hey, this is an early adopter product. The era is tomorrow, not today."

 

[AdamHarbour]

It got a better return on its R&D costs then the apple car did !

 

[VPsmith]

He’s not admitting anything new. Apple didn’t announce what their target sales were in the first place. People just based it on rumors. He is absolutely right this is an early adopter product.. just like iPhone 1 was

 

[VPsmith]

Wow, that's quite the change marketing. When the AVP was announced, Apple said, "The era of spatial computing is here." Now they are saying, "Hey, this is an early adopter product. The era is tomorrow, not today."

They said era not here is a fully developed product … same like iPhone 1… was that fully developed? It didn’t even have an App Store

 

[JohnC1959]

The Vision Pro is a great product to help Apple figure out how VR and AR can be best utilized for work and entertainment. It's a stepping stone. A foot in the door. Making it more high end helps with that goal even while it keeps sales way down.

 

[jz0309]

That headline - “admits truth …” - really?
Sorry, that is very misleading wording

 

[rymc02]

What would make the Vision really great was if it actually was a pair of glasses. Unfortunately that product is a decade or more away.

Legit question - How do you do immersive video in a pair of glasses?

 

[VPsmith]

The Vision Pro is a great product to help Apple figure out how VR and AR can be best utilized for work and entertainment. It's a stepping stone. A foot in the door. Making it more high end helps with that goal even while it keeps sales way down.

I think you are seeing it all wrong. Apple Vision Pro is on a path to replace computers, phones and tablets all together. In the future, a decade?, if you have working eyes of course you will do all your computing in Apples ultra light goggles or glasses. That is exactly where all of this is headed. This is the last computing right before they put chips into your brain and you see your digital world in your brains visual cortex.

Apple Vision Pro nearly does that.. except it’s heavy and we need 5-10 years of software improvements.

 

[VPsmith]

Legit question - How do you do immersive video in a pair of glasses?

Maybe the glasses have a custom lightweight light guard you can magnetically attach when you need that kind of experience. The glasses though will definitely be ultra bright to compete with the brightness of daylight. Think 5000 nits

 

[Ctrlos]

We all knew it wasn't a mass market product. But glad he is acknowledging it.

I am a Vision Pro owner, and I've been decreasingly "excited" about the product line as a whole. I have mixed feelings. On one hand, it's an amazing device with top of the line technology, but on the other the App Store and content situation has not improved and has gotten worse in some ways. A lot of apps have been abandoned, a lot of critical ones are still missing, and many barely get updates. It's incredibly nice for occassional media consumption (such as immersive video) - of which Apple TV+ still lacks a lot of!

Ultimately, the success of Vision Pro is heavily dependent on the App Store and content. Price as well, but I'd argue it's less so. Content was the inflection point with the iPhone and the iPad. I hoped to see some of that progress, but I am disappointed to not have seen it. And Apple's hostile relationship with developers in recent years is of no help.

This is why I think the future of AR isn't the way it is now. Currently they are trying to repeat the phone idea with a 'data-push' model. This only makes headsets heavy and short on battery.

Now consider the proliferation of IOT sensors out there in the world. This will only continue. Future AR devices should be much lighter allowing for a 'data-pull' model where physical presence to the data source is as important as anything else. Thus AR serves to add value to the world around us rather than taking away from it. This would be built on open standards like the regular web before it allowing for all sorts of devices made to the same standards.

 

[Jimmy Bubbles]

This is some hard-hitting journalism…

 

[Rychiar]

When big developers are abandoning support for the Apple Watch—a well-established product with way lower development requirements—I question how they expected enthusiasm for developing for Vision Pro. Apple needs to reconsider its entire strategy.

to be fair apple watch is hardly a device that even needs apps. I'd be cool if it was totally closed.