I think there are 4 core consumer areas to the Vision Pro market (or reasons to buy) and I think Apple only nailed one category at launch- movies- and came close to getting spatial apps right.
1. 3D movies and immersive video recording. These are really good. A lot of people with disposable cash will be buying it just for this. There is a disappointing amount of content on Apple TV+ at launch, but an incredible amount of content on Disney+ and in the iTunes Store. This is a better experience than a real movie theater. There is evidence Apple has 3D content for TV+ in the works that isn’t out yet. Their Dinosaur feature looks incredible if they can move beyond a short demo experience. Overall 3D movies are nearly perfect at launch. Just remember to push the video player back as far as possible and resize it as large as possible for the best experience.
2. Spatial Gaming. This is not a hit on day one with limited content. Hopefully we see this develop over the next year. If you don’t need to buy a Quest 3 too, it gets a little further to justifying the price since the Quest can’t play movies well. Eye tracking doesn’t seem to be great for games. I think motion controllers are a necessity to really feel immersed in games. I hope Apple doesn’t pull the Apple TV Remote is good enough for games scenario again and prevent this area from taking off. In this case, eye tracking is the Apple TV Remote. It is a good remote, but not good at all forms of input. In theory even traditional 2D games could take advantage of the headset if they render in to a portal in space using full 3D rendering or stereoscopic rendering. Apple seems to be experimenting with this a bit in Apple Arcade.
3. 3D graphics software. There is nothing on day one other than jigspace. Shapr3D was hiring Vision Pro developers last year. This could be extremely compelling on Vision Pro, but will need at least another year to develop. Hopefully we see sculpting, motion capture, modeling, CAD, etc.
4. Spatial Apps. A testbed and preview of future comfortable glasses and headsets. I would consider remote control of a Mac part of this category. Using apps isn’t comfortable enough except to use in a pinch. I don’t think this will sell headsets yet, but it is cool to experience the future today. It is nice to have apps available while using core areas 1-3, so this is useful. There still seem to be some issues. Scrolling long lists is hard. Eye tracking distracts you from your content. With a trackpad, you can use the UI while still keeping your eyes on the content. This will be a compelling core use for the headset, but probably not replacing an iPad for a few generations. However, I think people will find a few niches where they prefer spatial apps early- especially for those that travel frequently. Apple got close to getting this right, but it isn’t good enough yet to be the primary reason to buy a headset.
5. Fitness (maybe). In theory there could be interesting fitness use cases. Possibly limited this generation since it may not be suited to aerobic exercise and possible damage to the headset. I think it is yet to be determined if this will be a compelling use case. Nothing at this point.
The headset will sell if they can get 1-3 perfected and do good enough at 4 to make it feel like we are in the future.
Coming back to motion controllers, I think they are required for games. If Apple played their cards right they would make motion controllers that also functioned as gamepads, iPhone joycons, keynote presentation device, and Wii style Apple TV remotes all in one device. If they worked across multiple devices they could help rationalize spending Apple level prices for beautifully engineered hardware. I think Apple would prefer not to depend on motion controllers for spatial apps (they might be good as a “pencil” for 3D design apps though), but making them work for all gaming I think is a good middle ground.
Another application with rich potential is Apple Books. Imagine reading your digital copy of “Covenant of Water.” Set on the southwestern coast of India, an environment most readers would not be familiar with. The author does a fine job of describing it, but imagine his descriptions augmented by the immersive 360° backgrounds that AVP offers! Augmented by actual environmental background sounds as well. Expensive to produce compared to text, but could charge a premium price for the AR edition.
Great article. I really liked the history and the perspective of how Apple Vision Pro will not turn in to the Newton (although I did purchase and used it for quite some time).
Wanna know....the porn industry...theyll make the leap...
Certainly an immersive experience
The funniest moment I've seen from any of the tech-press reviews of the Vision Pro comes from the video review by Nilay Patel at The Verge. During his conclusion section, during which he references Vision Pro's hand-tracking function, he slows down for a moment, looks levelly into the camera, and dead-pans, "Listen to me: do you want to use a computer that is always looking at your hands?"
Another application with rich potential is Apple Books. Imagine reading your digital copy of “Covenant of Water.” Set on the southwestern coast of India, an environment most readers would not be familiar with. The author does a fine job of describing it, but imagine his descriptions augmented by the immersive 360° backgrounds that AVP offers! Augmented by actual environmental background sounds as well. Expensive to produce compared to text, but could charge a premium price for the AR edition.
Graphic novels, comic books, and manga would all look fantastic on the AVP.
Don't need to have motion or animation, but I'm wondering if HDR and 3D stills would add to the graphic novel experience. That is, you can experience graphic novel panels bigger in poster size, with bright objects super bright and dark things super dark. Interesting to contemplate.
I have to say this is one of my most favorite articles. Not only about the Vision Pro but the overall story. If I had $5000 to spare I would have automatically spent the $4000 to purchased it. Anyways congrats 👏
Comments
I think there are 4 core consumer areas to the Vision Pro market (or reasons to buy) and I think Apple only nailed one category at launch- movies- and came close to getting spatial apps right.
1. 3D movies and immersive video recording. These are really good. A lot of people with disposable cash will be buying it just for this. There is a disappointing amount of content on Apple TV+ at launch, but an incredible amount of content on Disney+ and in the iTunes Store. This is a better experience than a real movie theater. There is evidence Apple has 3D content for TV+ in the works that isn’t out yet. Their Dinosaur feature looks incredible if they can move beyond a short demo experience. Overall 3D movies are nearly perfect at launch. Just remember to push the video player back as far as possible and resize it as large as possible for the best experience.
2. Spatial Gaming. This is not a hit on day one with limited content. Hopefully we see this develop over the next year. If you don’t need to buy a Quest 3 too, it gets a little further to justifying the price since the Quest can’t play movies well. Eye tracking doesn’t seem to be great for games. I think motion controllers are a necessity to really feel immersed in games. I hope Apple doesn’t pull the Apple TV Remote is good enough for games scenario again and prevent this area from taking off. In this case, eye tracking is the Apple TV Remote. It is a good remote, but not good at all forms of input. In theory even traditional 2D games could take advantage of the headset if they render in to a portal in space using full 3D rendering or stereoscopic rendering. Apple seems to be experimenting with this a bit in Apple Arcade.
3. 3D graphics software. There is nothing on day one other than jigspace. Shapr3D was hiring Vision Pro developers last year. This could be extremely compelling on Vision Pro, but will need at least another year to develop. Hopefully we see sculpting, motion capture, modeling, CAD, etc.
4. Spatial Apps. A testbed and preview of future comfortable glasses and headsets. I would consider remote control of a Mac part of this category. Using apps isn’t comfortable enough except to use in a pinch. I don’t think this will sell headsets yet, but it is cool to experience the future today. It is nice to have apps available while using core areas 1-3, so this is useful. There still seem to be some issues. Scrolling long lists is hard. Eye tracking distracts you from your content. With a trackpad, you can use the UI while still keeping your eyes on the content. This will be a compelling core use for the headset, but probably not replacing an iPad for a few generations. However, I think people will find a few niches where they prefer spatial apps early- especially for those that travel frequently. Apple got close to getting this right, but it isn’t good enough yet to be the primary reason to buy a headset.
5. Fitness (maybe). In theory there could be interesting fitness use cases. Possibly limited this generation since it may not be suited to aerobic exercise and possible damage to the headset. I think it is yet to be determined if this will be a compelling use case. Nothing at this point.
The headset will sell if they can get 1-3 perfected and do good enough at 4 to make it feel like we are in the future.
Coming back to motion controllers, I think they are required for games. If Apple played their cards right they would make motion controllers that also functioned as gamepads, iPhone joycons, keynote presentation device, and Wii style Apple TV remotes all in one device. If they worked across multiple devices they could help rationalize spending Apple level prices for beautifully engineered hardware. I think Apple would prefer not to depend on motion controllers for spatial apps (they might be good as a “pencil” for 3D design apps though), but making them work for all gaming I think is a good middle ground.
If you just want a bullet points summary I'm sure that's available elsewhere.
Don't need to have motion or animation, but I'm wondering if HDR and 3D stills would add to the graphic novel experience. That is, you can experience graphic novel panels bigger in poster size, with bright objects super bright and dark things super dark. Interesting to contemplate.