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Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro
- robg 3y agoWow, imagine if Apple starts integrating their stores with their products into connected life experiences. The stores become showcases for personalized experiences for life, work, and play. Companies are already integrating Watch and VisionPro with biofeedback. Might be something consumers need to deeply experience to believe, from the spatial desktop to music, games, and movies, desk to couch to bed.
- 9991 3y ago[flagged]
- geraldwhen 3y agoAh yes, the joys of traveling through high crime mall areas to arrive at a crowded Apple Store. At least one has a permanent police presence at the door.
- catchnear4321 3y agothat’s the killer app for the headset. access to a virtual apple store with no crowding, no wait, and no pilgrimage required. payment charged to apple card using an eyeball scan. hey, siri, let’s go to the mall.
- CSSer 3y agoI almost did a spit take. Siri is so painfully bad it could probably even screw that up.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- msla 3y ago> access to a virtual apple store with no crowding, no wait, and no pilgrimage required. payment charged to apple card using an eyeball scan. The best use of VR Apple can come up with is going to a store? It takes a lot to be outdone by the Metaverse, but trust Apple to accomplish it.
- sclarisse 3y agoBetter the mall than the office, I’ll give them that much.
- JKCalhoun 3y agoHa ha, you are not at all describing my experience with the Apple Store in Omaha, Nebraska. YMMV (your mall may vary?).
- scarface_74 3y agoOr any places in metro Atlanta.
- scarface_74 3y agoI keep forgetting that the US is an urban hell scape where everyone is required to carry around automatic weapons. I was in San Francisco last year and walk from the financial district to the pier and I wasn’t nervous at all. My wife and I “nomad” across the US to major cities across the US half the year. I’m comfortable walking around most places during the day.
- robg 3y agoSome examples: - Game play that changes with your heart rate - Switching easily from work mode to a meditation - Getting ready for bed by watching a VR sunset Imagine walking into an Apple Store and seeing as new customers are getting fitted and exploring these experiences on 100” OLEDs. Converting the masses requires displaying entirely new experiences, from work to play.
- howinteresting 3y agoWait, you're being earnest here?
- robg 3y ago1000%. I’ve worked for almost 15 years in empathic computing, what we have now for screen time is already deeply dystopian. So the question remains how next generation computing experiences can make our connected lives better. Because connectivity isnt going away, and maybe if we’re strapping it to our face we’ll be much more conscious of the times we choose not to.
- howinteresting 3y agoYou understand that this is miserable and dystopian, right? As humans we shouldn't be leading that kind of "integrated", "personalized" life. We already have too much of that going on with YouTube and Facebook.
- robg 3y agoBetter context switching from work to meditation to entertainment then sleep. Anything health serious in that direction with biomarkers would be far better than what we have now for screen time.
- shipscode 3y agoHaving messed with VR/AR tech since the DK2, the Apple Store presence could be the killer app that VR/AR needs. The manual learning process of ordering special fit lenses, adjusting the headsets, etc would be a great fit with Apple’s store model.
- kcplate 3y agoSo the killer app for a $3.5k product is an app that helps you buy other expensive products from the same company? Maybe I misunderstood, but if not count me skeptical.
- macintux 3y agoNot the app, the retail presence. The Apple Stores have proved enormously valuable when Apple enters a new hardware product category.
- kcplate 3y agoI can understand this being a differentiator to other AR/VR products, but that is not exactly what the comment I replied to said, they said the “killer app” was the ability to buy it at an Apple Store. Short of a few folks with too much extra cash and curiosity, just being able to try it before you buy isn’t what I would refer to as a killer app. The “killer app” is what gets the main market populace to the store to even consider it.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- danpalmer 3y agoI’m squarely in the target market for the Meta Quest, but the fact I have no way of trying one before I buy, even just for a few minutes, is my main blocker for getting one. This is particularly important for a) new product categories where customers aren’t yet sure they want/need it, b) products that “fit”, or don’t, and c) expensive entertainment products. These headsets are all three, so it’s really important. Apple’s retail presence could solve this.
- isykt 3y agoRecall, as the article does, that Apple also required appointments for the Apple Watch. Now the Apple Watch is an extremely common device.
- acer589 3y agoThis is not accurate. You had to have an appoint to try one, but not to buy one.
- CrampusDestrus 3y agoFitting a headset is nothing like fitting an armband. If you are going to buy it you will need to try it and get it customized at point of sale
- ninkendo 3y agoThey plan to let you image your face with your iPhone to customize the fit online. They mentioned this in the keynote.
- CrampusDestrus 3y agoYou are confusing the face scan for FaceTime calls with the one they'll do at the store for optimal fitting
- imchillyb 3y agoI was a first-adopter. There were 'fitting' appointments required to purchase the first version. I purchased my Apple Watch through one of these 'fitting' appointments.
- neilalexander 3y agoI had the original Apple Watch on pre-order from the online store and did not need to visit a physical location for fitting first.
- gibbitz 3y agoEven if they came to my house to fit me with it I wouldn't buy it. What problem is it solving for someone other than Apple? We've been seeing this AR pipe-dream for 10+ years and it hasn't caught on. Not because the technology was bad, but because people just don't want it. What Apple is missing here is that people wanted the iPhone (a phone with an iPod built in) for years before it was even officially announced as under development. It succeeded because the market invented it, not because Apple are geniuses who showed us we needed it.
- throw47474777j 3y ago> Not because the technology was bad, but because people just don't want it. It’s hard to see how anyone who has been following the technology could make this claim.
- kibwen 3y agoPeople want it, but not in this form factor. Like I've been saying regarding Oculus' products for years: VR/AR isn't a bad idea, but nobody wants to strap a set of heavy, sweaty ski goggles to their face for eight hours a day. Just because the newest models are lighter/more comfortable than the old models doesn't mean they're anywhere near acceptable. I'll be passing on these until they're the size and weight of ordinary glasses.
- throw47474777j 3y agoComparing Oculus’s products of years ago with Vision Pro makes no sense.
- kibwen 3y agoI have been saying it for years, but it remains true of Oculus' modern products, and it remains true of the VP. In ten years it may be different, but today is not ten years from now.
- 3y ago
- MegaDeKay 3y ago"Gurman says Apple will ensure that the Vision Pro fits the wearer and also outfit the device with prescription lens inserts if needed" I wear prescription glasses and have gone from single vision to progressive lenses that are stupid expensive. Worse, my prescription changes every visit to the optometrist. How sensitive is the headset's performance to my prescription, how expensive would replacement lenses be, and how difficult would they be to change out? Could I do this myself by ordering updated lenses based on my prescription or would I have to take the headset in?
- balls187 3y agoHow old are you? 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, or beyond? As you likely know your vision will eventually settle when you hit late 30’s. Also I assume you have considered LASIK?
- FreezerburnV 3y agoLASIK can't be considered until your prescription stabilizes for at least a year or two, so that isn't helpful to someone whose prescription is constantly changing.
- zaphod420 3y agoMy vision was perfect until I hit 40. Now I need a new prescription ever couple of years.
- kibwen 3y ago> your vision will eventually settle when you hit late 30’s Eyesight doesn't settle, it continues to deteriorate with age. Lasik also deteriorates with time, normally becoming noticeable about ten years after the surgery. Lasik providers offer "touch ups" as you get older in order to ameliorate this.
- dragonwriter 3y ago> Eyesight doesn't settle, it continues to deteriorate with age Apparently a common pattern, at least for myopia, is for that to stop progressing in the late 30s, but then focussing response to get worse (why people end up needing reading glasses in their 50s-ish.) Certainly that's what I've experienced, and what before I did I was told to expect.
- anonymouse008 3y agoThey need to go back and read the Newton’s postmortem. With every new detail about this devices release - it’s becoming clearer and clearer this device just is not ready. I was excited iPad apps could be directly ported over to VisionPro - but now after hacking with it in XCode - it’s evident this device and its APIs have no idea that customer intent drives context. This lack of customer awareness is so interesting because all the designers in WWDC videos outline context with great labor. They forget a space is only part of an intent, and an intent is not a click or scroll. Intents demand a certain context, not the other way around - they’re scratching at old scars of starting with technology first then working to some customer experience. Everyone pulls up the SJ D3 interview to say VisionPro is what Steve would want - but just like everything he says, if you only quickly listen you miss the full history and intent - he says something along the lines of “headphones are just as good as amazing audio systems, displays on your face need to get better before we can recreate the plasma tv experience” - only after a lot of reflection did I come to understand this means audio passive consumption and display passive consumption. The customer intent for a display on face context is to recreate watching a plasma tv - following this intent means you end up with something completely different than what is happening now (I think SOL has nailed this, but perhaps focused too niche on the use case). Only later do you pull forward interactivity - as in the delay between headphones and Siri, which is still lagging.
- tikkun 3y ago> This lack of customer awareness is so interesting because all the designers in WWDC videos outline context with great labor. They forget a space is only part of an intent, and an intent is not a click or scroll. Intents demand a certain context, not the other way around - they’re scratching at old scars of starting with technology first then working to some customer experience. Could you elaborate on that? I'd like to better understand
- anonymouse008 3y agoEvery time I try to type something in response it comes out overly verbose - Basically think of what you want to achieve, it’s the intent. Then think what happens if it happened automatically, that’s the ideal context (why pills for losing weight is so enticing). Then actually try to solve the problem in tech in the best way, and then you’ll see that the intent drives what tech context is truly great - as in you’ll end up creating dedicated hardware and software; what’s happened is that this platform has become good enough for many use cases and everyone is looking for the next best “good enough” when this current generation of tech platforms was built for a specific intent very different from what’s next
- everly 3y agoSomewhat interestingly, this is exactly how Google rolled out the Glass
- joshgachnang 3y agoAt least it'll be at all (most?) of their US stores. I drove halfway across the country to NYC to get Google Glass. At least me and a couple friends turned it into a fun vacation.
- neonate 3y agohttps://archive.ph/ctAKf https://archive.ph/ctAKf
- nabla9 3y agoApple masters the art of creating artificial product shortages for marketing purposes. They deny it, they say it's some manufacturing issue, but usually it's just marketing. Here is news from 12 years ago where they deny iPhone 4 shortages are just marketing. https://appleinsider.com/articles/10/07/20/apple_denies_creating_artificial_product_shortages_for_hype https://appleinsider.com/articles/10/07/20/apple_denies_crea...
- jansan 3y agoRemember when there were export requlations for the Playstation 3 because the chips were so powerful that North Korea could use them for missile guiding systems? I always thought that was excellent marketing.
- scarface_74 3y agoYes, because shipping a new product at volume is child’s play. Sony still can’t manufacture enough PS5’s to keep them in stock. They’ve only sold 38 million in almost 3 years - the number of iPhones Apple sells in less than a quarter. And you’re citing a denial as proof?
- nabla9 3y agoThat's not my opinion. That's what Apple Analysts say is happening and they even predicted it. They observe the supply chain very closely and get information from the floor level. Apple does it it again and again in a way that is not realistic and analysts point it out. When Apple seems to face less demand than expected they have 'problems'. Sony has real screw ups it hurts the company because demand is off the roof. (Apple has the best supply chain management in the world)
- scarface_74 3y agoYes because “analysts” have been spot on when it came to Apple ever since in the 80s.
- Version467 3y agoThe Bigscreen beyond requires a face scan and generates a custom interface to fit each persons face perfectly. Everything I've read indicates that this actually improves fit and comfort. It helps that the bigscreen beyond is incredibly light and small, but the face scan doesn't seem to be a gimmick. The Vision Pro might end up a complete failure, but requiring an appointment and a face scan is not a sign for this.
- pavlov 3y agoIt makes it a bit harder to create positive word of mouth, though. You can’t just try out the Vision Pro fitted for a friend or family member.
- scarface_74 3y agoYes you’re right. If only Apple knew how to generate buzz and convince people to pay more for its products than competitors…
- smoldesu 3y agoMeta has neither of those things and still managed to sell 15-20 million Quest units. If Apple is projecting less than a million units sold this year, they're going to have a hard time catching up to Meta's install-base, let alone their MAU count.
- giantrobot 3y agoRIM and Palm sold 15-20 million units this year. If Apple is only projecting selling a million iPhones they're going to have a hard time catching up to Palm and RIM's install base.
- smoldesu 3y agoYep. You left out the part where Palm ate Apple's lunch for 15 years, to the point that Apple was forced to abandon the Newton platform in order to compete. Spot-on recounting otherwise though.
- tsunamifury 3y agoThey did the same with Apple Watch. This isn’t new.
- x86x87 3y agothis Vision Pro saga has Google Glass vibes in. Let's see what happens.
- 01100011 3y agoAs I wondered last month: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36253348 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36253348 > Maybe Apple doesn't actually want to sell a lot of a first generation product they know will quickly evolve? It's an impressive tech demo pushed out early to support the stock price, claim trademarks, gauge interest, and allow developers to begin building the ecosystem. Apple isn't going to go in with both feet on a product with dubious market potential.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- drewg123 3y agoThis product has opened my eyes to "AR" glasses in general, but I think its way overkill for what I want to do.. My use case is being able to code with a giant screen anywhere (plane, hotel room, etc). I just want a few giant editor windows and terminals open. I don't care about gaming, AR gimmicks, etc. From what I understand, there are a number of sub $500 options. (xreal air, rokud air, TCL NXTWEAR, etc). However they all get very mixed reviews. I wish there was a retailer that had demo units, as this is something I'd very much like to try before I buy.
- SkyPuncher 3y agoI have the xreal airs. I’m very happy with them as an “on-the go” screen or “I don’t have my desk”, but I certainly prefer my desk setup (triple monitor). I think the price is right for what they do.
- drewg123 3y agoDo you use them on an M1 macbook with Nebula? I'm curious if Nebula supports running terminal windows, or is just a web browser or something..
- SkyPuncher 3y agoYep, on occasion. They work just like a normal monitor. I've had code/terminals/etc open while watching Netflix on a side monitor. When Nebula is open, they simulate 3 individual monitors. Nebula is simply responsible for positioning the screens in space and keeping them where you want.
- hordehamhill 3y agoSo what about this product opened your eyes that the previous 15 years of VR/AR did not? Just Apple's marketing power? Or is there something specific about this device that made it click for you?
- drewg123 3y ago
- whalesalad 3y agoThis was how they rolled out the watch, too.
- seydor 3y agogoing higher and higher up the exclusivity chain
- robg 3y agoTo scale into the mass market…
- robg 3y agoLove this so much - doing things that don’t scale well.
- hospitalJail 3y agoMaybe this is cynical, but my marketing class taught us to look at everything Apple does under the view of the best marketers in the world. The marketers told them to go for the 'exclusive club' vibe by doing in-store appointments. Wonder if there is some messaging by the Apple leader at the appointment that explains how this is cool, exclusive, luxury. Reinforcing the purchase decision. Need to make the barrier to entry extra high too, so when people laugh at it in public, they are fully committed to defend it. Who knows maybe they will go full abercrombie and make sure people who are older than 40 get it slightly later than 20 year old females. Eventually it gets normalized and people use it.
- mytailorisrich 3y agoI suspect that they don't expect high volumes so rather than giving the impression that the launch is a failure they turn it into an exclusive club product.
- georgespencer 3y agoSupply chain scuttlebutt is that the display technology is so constrained[^1] that Apple expects to only _manufacture_ 400,000 headsets next year. It's possible that this product will flop, but I can't see it being anything other than sold out everywhere for most of 2024. Heck, you can make a reasonable case for there only being 10k-30k SKUs in channel inventory at launch, and Apple has 275 retail locations which require multiple demo units in addition to launch stock. [^1]: https://www.ft.com/content/b6f06bde-17b0-4886-b465-b561212c96a9 https://www.ft.com/content/b6f06bde-17b0-4886-b465-b561212c9..., https://www.ft.com/content/632b4ffa-3637-4972-a525-0ddbcd50b463 https://www.ft.com/content/632b4ffa-3637-4972-a525-0ddbcd50b.... Tl;dr: each device needs 2 displays (so 800k displays leads to 400k headsets), the displays are new and complex (which is why they account for 50% of the manufacturing cost of the entire device) which means it's expensive to ramp up production lines for suppliers (who are unsure of demand) _and_ production yields are low.
- mytailorisrich 3y agoIt'll be by appointment so they can control the tap, say it is sold out, say there is a waiting list. Create a buzz. Cynically, a case in point is the display: it is so new and advanced that they have problems ramping production! Whether issues are real or not, I am sure that Apple's marketing team knows how to spin everything. They are famous for that and indeed one of the best.
- robg 3y agoBespoke = luxury. Someone else mentioned the Watch fittings and clearly that wasn’t needed to scale. This might be - but only one way to find out.
- crooked-v 3y agoI'm not surprised, given the overwhelming focus so far that they've had on minimizing the bad parts of VR (motion sickness in particular). Since they're not going to have real mass-market production numbers anyway, they've gone all in on making the experience as positive as possible for those limited number of people who get their hands on one, even if that means burning a bunch of retail employee time on fitting and adjustments.
- Guest42 3y agoPerhaps this is advantageous as there is less demand and supply capacity than their other products.
- BoppreH 3y agoI'm very confused by Apple's strategy. As an owner of the original HTC Vive headset, its word-of-mouth power was off the charts. It was a blast at parties, and many of my friends bought their own $700+ devices after trying it. Here's what won them over: - Being able to try it themselves with little preparation ("put this on your head, tighten it here, and click these buttons on the controller"). You could even use it over glasses. - Games that you play by grabbing things with your hands. The heavy hitters are Beat Saber and Half-Life: Alyx, but Climbey and UltraWings also got fans, and all the combat games where you punch cartoons or reload guns realistically. (seriously, if you've never tried, the jump from mouse+keyboard to hand tracking is like going from arrow keys to mouse+keyboard) Meanwhile, here's what Apple seems to be doing: - Customized accessories, to the point that you need a face-scan and to send them your glasses prescriptions. - Eyetracking and gesture-only interactions. I haven't seen a single demo where somebody picks a virtual object up. How is that going to work? Do they expect to make up for all the lost word-of-mouth with marketing campaigns? Also, did they give up on VR games?
- post-it 3y agoThey're going for the same approach they always do. You don't need word-of-mouth if you have every product placement slot. People won't get hyped on the Vision Pro by their best friend, they'll get hyped on it by their favourite YouTuber.
- stouset 3y agoAfter decades of hearing about Apple only being kept afloat by their indoctrinated, rabid fan base (whose numbers curiously appeared to grow exponentially with each passing year), Apple “always” making sales only by ad spots and not word of mouth is certainly a hot take.
- post-it 3y agoThe ad spots are how they get new customers, the product quality is how they keep existing ones.
- 3y ago
- dawnerd 3y agoMakes sense. Weeds out people unsure if they’ll like it and returning it. Might even rule out the YouTubers that but and return after they make a video.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- hghid 3y agoSlightly tangential rant, but is anybody else becoming frustrated with the process of buying Apple products in Apple stores? For me, it started with the Apple Watch - I knew which one I wanted and was ready just to head down and buy one, but I was forced to sit through an entire "fitting" with patronising explanation on how to use the knob on the the side. Recently, I wanted to buy a new Phone. Again, I knew the one I wanted and was ready to part with cash and walk out with a box as quickly as possible - I approached a sales assistant, said: "Hi, I'd like to buy a new phone please" (or words to that effect) to be informed that if I didn't have an appointment, it would take half an hour or so to get somebody over. A random store nearby that also sold phones had no issue selling me one. The whole experience of visiting an Apple store has changed from being something I looked forward to just another shopping chore. The VR headset is a case in point - if I want to be guided through the process, then I will ask for that. Otherwise, just sell me the damn product! I guess maybe I'm just not their target audience any more.
- McSwag 3y agoJust order the item you want for store pickup before you leave and it’s usually ready by the time you get there. That’s my experience and it’s quite literally in-n-out.
- mr_cyborg 3y agoThe Genius Bar also takes forever to get appointments at now compared to how it was. I think they maintained close to the same number of retail locations as their customer base exploded, which probably works out better economically but is far less convenient.
- robotresearcher 3y agoApple grew from ~300 to ~500 stores between 2010 and 2020. https://www.aboveavalon.com/notes/2021/3/10/the-future-of-apple-retail https://www.aboveavalon.com/notes/2021/3/10/the-future-of-ap...
- nightpool 3y agoCan't you also buy these products online? I'm not surprised that the in-store experience has become such a high touch affair when the customer base that would have wanted less interaction have already self-selected out by not going to the store at all
- hyperthesis 3y ago> unclear use cases ... a small group of enthusiasts Apple's image announcement is just for future positioning: this really is a "Pro" device, for specific market segments and use-cases - niche. It's how apple won desktop publishing years ago. Segment 1: creative professionals keep buying more and bigger screens. Vision Pro (VP) can eat that budget, and provide as many displays as you want. (The technology appeal is that a display must be high resolution everywhere - but VP only needs to be hi-res where you're looking, giving arbitrarily large "displays"). Apple carefully and specifically claims text is crisp. The engineering question is if Apple has actually done this: is it as good as a physical display? (or close enough) Segment 2: creative professionals who make 3D objects: industrial designers, architects (but not yet engineers - they have different priorities). Also directors: cgi sets and set extensions have long been standard, and directors (and production designers etc) use an ipad to "see" the fully dressed cgi set, overlaid on the practical set. This is a better version of that. I can see James Cameron and Denis Villeneuve ordering any many as they can use - if it actually help. (aside: maybe for actors in rehearsal, but interferes with mocap). Creative professional collaborate, hence Apple's huge efforts on the eyes being visible. A real question is will it be enough, for effective and natural communication, in a real-worlx work-flow situation? Will Jim be able to ordsr people around, or will he have to rip it off? By announcing it after years and years of work, Apple shows they think they have enough of it, for it to be worthwhile for some people. Provided they can get a genuine foothold, in actually making people more productive (real ROI, not jus enthusiast prosumers), then this has endless upside. If they can, users, usages and sales will grow fantastically for decades....if
- frankfrankfrank 3y ago[dead]
- dgellow 3y agoIt feels like they want to use this first version of the Vision Pro as a sort of public beta release? My speculation is that their target audience is quite niche, on purpose, that they want to see how it performs in real life, while controlling the onboarding and working on ramping up their production processes. And a future version would target the general public. Just my personal thoughts. It’s not for me in its current form, I feel I wouldn’t be able to deal with a heavy and warm mask on my face isolating me from my surrounding for more than a few minutes (quite sure I would be sweating a good amount while wearing it…). Hopefully we will get something closer to Dennou Coil soon :)
- jackson1442 3y agoMy thinking as well, it’s very similar to how the first Apple Watch was rolled out: appointment for a “fitting” with a device that was eventually completely overhauled (so much as to call the v1 the “series 0” due to how different the v2 was). I think they want to see how users actually want to use this thing then rework the hardware to suit that. Also, they want developers to figure out what they want to do with it. If it was a “development kit” people would still try to get their hands on one like with the Apple Silicon dev kit, but with this anyone can try it out if they have the money and time to do so.
- thr0waway001 3y agoTotally makes sense. It needs to be sold exactly like a vehicle. They probably only want serious people trying these things. And by serious I mean people with the money to spend and intent to buy it. My first thought when I saw this was how will this work in an Apple store with every Tom, Dick and Mary with at most $100 bucks in their bank account and a bunch of soon to be maxed out credit cards trying this thing but knowing full well that they cannot afford it and will probably not buy it. It would be a waste of time for Apple store employees to demo this thing for people who are thousands of dollars away from being able to afford it. By making it appointment only they can reduce the pool of people who would waste their time. And no, I'm not trying to be a snob, in fact, I am one of these people who could never afford this thing. They'd have to sell it at $500 for it to be in my price range. I was just thinking about the logistics.
- avar 3y agoThey could do it without appointments. Just require that prospective buyers bring their car keys. Then tell anyone driving something less fancy than a Mercedes S-class or equivalent to fuck off :-) It's funny to see a company rooted in jeans and T-shirt California counterculture struggle to reinvent something that would have been painfully obvious to any luxury store owner before the 20th century: throw out anyone not wearing sufficiently fancy clothing.
- jamiek88 3y ago"obvious to any luxury store owner before the 20th century: throw out anyone not wearing sufficiently fancy clothing." The Beverley Hillbillies got 9 seasons outta that trope! Wouldn't work in oil towns though, often the worst dressed bloke is the richest in the room.
- bequanna 3y agoThis seems the lukewarm response from their announcement scared Apple and they are now trying to control the narrative to avoid this being perceived as a flop.
- wnevets 3y agoThis is the correct approach for VR IMO, especially or a brand like apple. It's going to continue being a niche within a niche for years to come and you don't want to expose how immature & jank the entire industry is to normal people yet.
- alpark3 3y agoI'm actually fine with the appointment setting, even if some others are bothered by the notion of an involved process. It's sort of like buying a toy anyways, so all the more fun for me to enjoy the steps of checking out. The thing I would hate, though, is limited availability with no real way of securing a spot. Nothing more annoying than trying to find any appointment spot available and praying that the units aren't sold out. It seems that their production "numbers" are capped by supply chain difficulties, rather than raw demand. But then again, it's $3500, so maybe I won't have any trouble grabbing a headset.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- amelius 3y agoRemember folks, it is your right as a consumer to try it and return it if you don't like it.
- Shekelphile 3y ago[dead]
- Animats 3y agoIt's too clunky to be more than a niche product, like everybody else's VR headsets. John Carmack, after he quit Oculus, said this wasn't going to work as a product until the size got down to swim goggle size, and wouldn't go mass market until the devices reached eyeglass size and weight. What seemed more likely from Apple was the form factor of the Vuzix Ultralight, which looks like ordinary glasses. AR-only, offering access to a smartphone functionality with hands free. That's a mass market product. Several companies showed such things at CES. What Apple is demoing is nicely engineered, but has every bell and whistle known to VR headgear. It shows in the weight, bulk, price, and battery life. It seems to have roughly the same market as the Microsoft HoloLens, which is an nice piece of expensive equipment sold to corporate buyers. Meta and Microsoft have something in this space, so Apple had to have one too, in case somebody made this niche grow.
- crooked-v 3y agoThe Vuzix Ultralight gives you a 30° FOV display with support for notifications and turn-by-turn directions... which makes it identical feature-wise to plenty of previous products that have failed to make any waves at all, just marginally lighter and with a longer battery life. That's not a mass-market product, it's a niche product that's at best riding on the coattails of the already-niche Xreal Air.
- pcurve 3y agoWeight on head is a real issue. There is a big difference in comfort for even a pair of glasses.
- _samjarman 3y agoFair enough. I will need the custom lenses due to wearing glasses so I want my ~5.5k AUD purchase to not give me a headache.
- User23 3y agoI wonder if it will be possible to create a Vision Cafe, kind of like how arcades used to have networked battletech pods for a kind of proto VR experience. I don’t feel the need to elaborate much, but it could be an interesting offering for a shared workspace rental business too.
- Reptur 3y agoJust buy it as a gift, are they still going to force you to listen? Its starting to feel like time share seminars.
- jaimex2 3y agoThis going the way of Google Glass already.
- calsy 3y agoHow do you drum up interest in expensive bit of tech with few apps and many undesirable drawbacks which limit its adoption to enthusiasts and in turn interest from third party developers? Pretend its exclusive and hard to get I suppose? Media and companies still pushing the VR hype garbage... its not new, its not 'the future', get over it.
- chx 3y agoIt's Cannon Lake all over again but since it's a retail product and Apple to boot, it's much, much more visible. The tale of a product which needed to be launched due to corporate dynamics but several years need to pass before it's actually ready. (And as we see with the Sapphire Rapids woes, it's still not fully so, five years later. But close enough.)
- bitwize 3y agoWait wat? I get that the Vision Pro is expensive and near-useless for most users. So was the Macintosh in 1984, which cost the equivalent of $7000 today adjusted for inflation. So yeah, two Vision Pros. With just 128 KiB of RAM, the original Macintosh didn't have the capacity to run the applications of the future everyone to run. But people knew it was the future... and if you had the scratch, you could go down to the store and buy one. That's where Vision Pro should be. It should be on everyone's minds as obviously where computing is going, and you should be able to buy tomorrow's computing paradigm today -- so that when better products come in at lower price points, everybody's ready. Shut up and take people's money, Apple.
- cambaceres 3y agoI’m neither a AR/VR enthusiast nor an Apple fanboy. Still, after looking at the presentation when Vision Pro was shown and reading about it I truly think the world will be obsessed by these devices. People will be even more addicted to it than they already are with the smartphones.
- Liam2010 3y ago[dead]
- hallantroe 3y ago[dead]