So it finally arrived, the day Apple began selling its first new product category since the Apple Watch nine years ago. It came and went without being noticed very much. The difference to when the Apple Watch came out is striking, then everyone immediately wanted to know, how is it, how is it to use it? Vision Pro seems to have been almost forgotten by people since it was first shown in June last year.
Not that the products are comparable, the Vision Pro costs more than ten times as much as an Apple Watch and ends up in a price range corresponding to a more luxurious home theater system. It is sold in limited edition in a limited number of countries, something for enthusiasts more than the mass market.
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But where are these enthusiasts talking about how awesome it is? People should still want to know what it's like, what it's like to use even if they have no immediate plans to get one of their own, and those who have gotten one should want to talk about how cool it is. It's hard to shake the feeling that people just aren't very interested in the Vision Pro.
So it finally arrived, the day Apple began selling its first new product category since the Apple Watch nine years ago. It came and went without being noticed very much. The difference to when the Apple Watch came out is striking, then everyone immediately wanted to know, how is it, how is it to use it? Vision Pro seems to have been almost forgotten by people since it was first shown in June last year.
Not that the products are comparable, the Vision Pro costs more than ten times as much as an Apple Watch and ends up in a price range corresponding to a more luxurious home theater system. It is sold in limited edition in a limited number of countries, something for enthusiasts more than the mass market.
But where are these enthusiasts talking about how awesome it is? People should still want to know what it's like, what it's like to use even if they have no immediate plans to get one of their own, and those who have gotten one should want to talk about how cool it is. It's hard to shake the feeling that people just aren't very interested in the Vision Pro.
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The problem is perhaps that the idea behind Vision Pro appears a little old. Most of us have probably had time to try VR and AR at some point, it was cool, but a bit noisy, and not that important. Maybe the Vision Pro takes the experience to a completely different level, even cooler and less fussy, but we're not convinced, especially not that it would matter.
A fundamental problem with AR and VR is that it is a fundamentally unsocial solitary experience. You can't share it with someone unless both have a headset on, and that problem is rather reinforced by the fact that Apple's vision Pro is a 50,000 kroner gadget. The fact that it costs like a whole hobby and can only be used by one person makes the Vision Pro most of all appear as a kind of portable man cave.
Another who invested heavily in AR and VR is Mark Zuckerberg. He got so into it that he renamed his entire company Meta after the idea of a metaverse as a virtual alternate reality. This too was met with massive disinterest from the users and in the end they were forced to realize that they were wrong and change the course. All of this happened before Apple even launched the Vision Pro. Instead, the big hype was on everyone's lips when Vision Pro came artificial intelligence. What at first looked like integrity on Apple's part in refusing to be swept along by trends soon felt like they were simply just a couple of years behind, which is not what we're used to from Apple.
It's not a shame about Apple as a company. They can survive if Vision Pro is a flop, more likely they will get back the money they invested but not much more than that. Apple has had products and technologies that flop before. It is said that the company is now pouring huge amounts of research money into artificial intelligence to catch up on the hyped field that people actually care about right now.
But it must be a thorn in Apple's self-image not to be able to create a new trend just on the strength of its brand.