NYC362

Here's my two cents...coming from someone who was an Expert in a large store and provided a lot demos and sold several AVPs in the weeks after it was first available.   I left Apple (for no singular reason, and do miss it a bit) back in the spring, so I'm not violating any sort business conduct here... it's just my opinion.

First, the AVP is an amazing device.  The technology squished into a relatively small space is beyond words.  I was able to use one not just in demo mode, but had one that I was able to link to my own Apple Account.  Watching a hockey game on a 20 foot wide screen was incredible.  The 3D and Immersive Video, just something that has to be experienced.  It was always great when a customer jumped when the bear in the demo popped up.

But beyond all of that great stuff is the reality that this is an almost $4500 device with sales tax, and AppleCare+ (which you seriously must get).  The audience for it is extremely limited just by the price point.  Personally, I think Apple knew fully well when they released it, what would happen.  One thing I learned at Apple in my five years, was absolutely nothing happens without a detailed plan and expectation of the results. 

Apple released what is essentially a beta product.  They knew fully well it was very expensive and had limited uses for most people.  Even with my 25% discount, I didn't buy one because I knew I could do a lot more with the money with more personal benefit.  But, what Apple is getting from the few hundred thousand they have and will sell (That number is nothing more from what I've read on sites just like this one.  I have absolutely no clue as to how many have been sold.), is a boat load of data on what and how the product works and is being used.  I know that the software improved greatly with just Version 1.1.  Now they're at Version 2.1, and there are even more improvements.

The other thing about the device is when it came out, most of the talk was about entertainment and gaming.  In real life though, it seems professional use is really where this thing shines- I sold several to a few engineers who couldn't wait to try it.   Of course, we've seen stories about it being used in surgeries, and other scientific areas.

I really don't think the AVP is a dud.  I think we're just at the beginning of it.  Just like the iPad and the Apple Watch- they too seemingly had no real use.  Now, they're are simply everywhere.   I am confident that Apple is going to bring out a lower cost model- remember we only have Vision PRO... so Vision, or Vision SE is probably in some research lab in Cupertino.  Down the road, it would surprise me to see a form of Vision Pro that look like eyeglasses. 

As the rather secretive CEO of a company that values its secrets more than anything else, I find it really hard to believe that Tim Cook called a person known for blabbering about anything and everything to complain about the EU.

If anyone here has ever worked for Apple, you'll know exactly how I feel.  It just isn't in the Apple DNA for something like this to have happened.

If it did, it is shocking.  

ssfe11 said:

These chips would be shipped to China AND India for assembly? 

Yup.. that's exactly how it would work.  It might sounds nuts, but the costs of everything are figured out to the penny and if it was cheaper to do it elsewhere, they would. 

So here's the deal... and this doctor is an idiot.. or just trying to scam Apple.   Former Expert here who dealt with stuff like this about ten thousand times. 

You buy an iPad Pro, it costs $999.  You're eligible for the education discount, so now the price is $899.  That is a year round deal.  But since the back to school promo is going on, you also get a $100 gift card.

When you look at your receipt you'll see that you were charged $799 for the iPad, and $100 for the gift card.  The total is $899.  The same as without the gift card, but you do have a $100 gift card to spend.  

Why does Apple do the transaction this way?

Simple, customers would take advantage of the deal, then try to return the iPad.  If they weren't charged for the card, and the value of the card wasn't take off the product, you'd still have that gift card.  Now, you try to return the item, if you come in both product and UNUSED gift card, you get your full $899 back.  What if you used part of the gift card?  What if you didn't have it?  Well, now you get your $799 back and you get to keep the gift card- after all you paid for it.

Going back to the summer 2020, I worked at home doing post order service for Apple, and the back to school deal wasn't a gift card, but AirPods.  I cannot even guess how many people tried to return the product thinking they'd get to keep free AirPods.  No, silly people... you paid for those AirPods, but we'll gladly refund you the reduced price of the product you bought to get them

It's all pretty simple except I guess for doctors who can't do arithmetic.

I often leave comments on this site using my past experience as an Expert at an Apple Store for about 4½ years.   Here I can use my pre-Apple experience- 32 years as a public high school teacher.

What Eton is doing is a good thing.  Students are WAY too connected to their phones.  Some years back, I had to take one from a student who just refused to put it away.  A few minutes later, another student tells me that first kid was now cutting herself.  Yes, she was using some relatively sharp to make straight line bruises on an arm.  If the object was any sharper, she would have been bleeding all over the place.

That might be an extreme example, but you get the idea. 

The constant connection to the internet and to each other takes away from learning. Simple as that.  If they are paying attention to their phone, they are not paying attention to the lesson at hand.  

A number of years ago, an MIT professor tried a small experiment in his lecture.  He had half the class operate as normal, meaning they had phones, tablets, and laptops out.  They were all multitasking- listening to him and watching whatever online.  The other half just had pen and paper, or maybe a computer, but agreed to not use the internet.  The professor gives a lecture, a rather basic one, and then gives everyone a short quiz on it.  As you might expect, the students that were not multitasking did quite a bit better than those who were. 

Finally, if I am a parent and I'm paying tens of thousands of pounds for my son to go to Eton, he damn well better be paying attention to the instructors and not his phone.