Can Apple crack the VR puzzle?

Apple’s Vision Pro is a test of whether a head-based computer – in the guise of virtual, augmented, mixed, or extended realities – can have a commercial or cultural impact, something which has eluded the technology up until now.   

Why it matters

Is this the new iPhone? Should every developer and every brand start ploughing millions into showing up on this new device? 

Previous examples of headset-based technology have always struggled against several complicated factors: comfort and weight, price, a lack of applications and content, as well as the problem of human vanity (or not wanting to look like a dork). 

Use cases are fast emerging, and the average level of application quality appears to be improving – but it’s not yet mainstream behaviour beyond gaming circles.

However, iPhone-era Apple doesn’t tend to invent entirely new categories as much as it takes the best elements and makes them beautiful, simple, and useful. So the fortunes of the Vision Pro will be something of a reckoning for the company’s formula: success could ignite an entire industry and the future of computing. Low-level adoption, by contrast, would likely see the product pivot to B2B use cases, similar to Microsoft’s HoloLens or Google’s Glass.

What’s happened

The device (pictured) was unveiled on Monday at Apple’s WWDC ‘23 conference, giving developers the chance to start building for the ecosystem that Apple hopes will come alive following the product’s US release in early 2024 (other countries will follow later that year).

Apple’s introduction of the device included several applications of “spatial computing,” which you are likely to have already seen:

• A 3D workspace
• A movie theatre mode
• Video recording through the headset
• Spatial facetime (in which wearers’ digital representations become their uncanny avatars during the conversation)

The potential: sleeker and simpler than the competition

Beyond the launch apps and the headset’s similarity to ski goggles, there’s an element of the device with enormous potential: the new controller-free interface using eyes, hands, and voice. “Users can browse through apps by simply looking at them, tapping their fingers to select, flicking their wrist to scroll, or using voice to dictate,” the company explains. 

Interestingly, its ambitions here are less grandiose than triggering the next phase of the internet, and the word ‘metaverse’ was conspicuously absent. Although there were ways to interact with other people and with the internet, Monday’s launch was all about people’s interaction with the device.

Improvements to the experience, such as a translucent mixed-reality mode, are – along with the interface –  encouraging but not yet transformative. It remains a chunky piece of kit. And despite the presence of Disney+ content on the platform at launch, it’s not only Apple but the whole VR industry that is still searching for a killer app to justify the high price.

Price: The elephant in the room

Priced at $3,499, the device is seriously expensive compared to other consumer-focused offerings like Meta’s forthcoming Meta Quest 3 ($499.99). Its closest competitor at the same price point is Microsoft’s business-focused HoloLens ($3,500).

Bottom line

Though it is a very expensive device, Apple may choose to market the product as a replacement to a personal computer – as much a tool for work as a conduit for entertainment – which could begin to justify some of the price. But the competitive set is totally different here; the kind of people looking at $3,500 computers are usually looking for pro-level performance gains and a tried-and-tested solution.

This said, it’s hard to escape the sense that Apple has the gravitas to immediately establish itself at the very top end of this nascent industry and has suggested to any headset-making competitors that they are now the hardware to beat.

The final, critical point, is that humans don’t tend to be that individual when it comes to being entertained; screens big and small have slotted into our social and family lives neatly. Habit is hard enough to break, and it will be a special device from a special company that is able to buck that trend from the top of the pricing spectrum.

Sourced from Apple, WARC

[Image: Apple]