4 ms·

From Apple's perspective Vision Pro is going to be the next Mac. So they do believe they will ship enough units over the next few decades. As for capex, Apple

From Apple's perspective Vision Pro is going to be the next Mac. So they do believe they will ship enough units over the next few decades. As for capex, Apple claims 5000 patents cover the Vision Pro so it must be unprecedented for them.

lulznews 3y ago
Holy cow that’s at least a billion in lawyer salaries.
- threeseed 3y ago
  I also count at least 8 acquisitions just for Vision Pro: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Apple https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitio... So definitely a lot of lawyers.
- badrequest 3y ago
  Even if they use in-house counsel? I would assume having salaried lawyers lowers the cost of registering that many patents at least a little, but I suppose it could also end up still being $1B.
  - gnicholas 3y ago
    If you divide a billion dollars by 5,000 patents, that would have to be $200k per patent. Some might have cost that much, with extensive back and forth via outside counsel. But many would be closer to $10-20k, via in-house counsel.
crooked-v 3y ago
To me, it seems really obvious that the current Vision Pro is step 1 in a plan that extends out for at least 10 or 15 years of iteration, until they finally arrive at the "Apple Glasses" that are a practical replacement for phones for a noticeable percentage of people.
- makeitdouble 3y ago
  To me what's missing in this discussion is the competitors already bringing working products in the space. Meta already has a context aware glass product that is limited and flawed but also paves the way for a magic product 10 to 15 iterations down the line. If we look at Apple's recent track record, we have the Apple Watch as a success, and Apple TV, HomePod as mostly living deads. Apple coming late to a market and crush it isn't the main pattern anymore IMHO.
jojobas 3y ago
Some of these patents are outright hilarious, like showing cartoon eyes or the weather forecasts on the outside screen. https://www.roadtovr.com/apple-vision-pro-eyesight-patent-anime-eyes-furry-avatars/ https://www.roadtovr.com/apple-vision-pro-eyesight-patent-an...

lulznews 3y ago

Holy cow that’s at least a billion in lawyer salaries.

threeseed 3y ago
I also count at least 8 acquisitions just for Vision Pro: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Apple https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitio... So definitely a lot of lawyers.
badrequest 3y ago
Even if they use in-house counsel? I would assume having salaried lawyers lowers the cost of registering that many patents at least a little, but I suppose it could also end up still being $1B.
- gnicholas 3y ago
  If you divide a billion dollars by 5,000 patents, that would have to be $200k per patent. Some might have cost that much, with extensive back and forth via outside counsel. But many would be closer to $10-20k, via in-house counsel.

crooked-v 3y ago

To me, it seems really obvious that the current Vision Pro is step 1 in a plan that extends out for at least 10 or 15 years of iteration, until they finally arrive at the "Apple Glasses" that are a practical replacement for phones for a noticeable percentage of people.

makeitdouble 3y ago
To me what's missing in this discussion is the competitors already bringing working products in the space. Meta already has a context aware glass product that is limited and flawed but also paves the way for a magic product 10 to 15 iterations down the line. If we look at Apple's recent track record, we have the Apple Watch as a success, and Apple TV, HomePod as mostly living deads. Apple coming late to a market and crush it isn't the main pattern anymore IMHO.

jojobas 3y ago

Some of these patents are outright hilarious, like showing cartoon eyes or the weather forecasts on the outside screen. https://www.roadtovr.com/apple-vision-pro-eyesight-patent-anime-eyes-furry-avatars/ https://www.roadtovr.com/apple-vision-pro-eyesight-patent-an...