Apple seems to be having quite a busy start to our still very young year. A lot of things that have been cooking for the past couple of years have come into fruition. EU decisions to allow sideloading, which if their attitude towards the implementation of the Epic ruling is anything to go by, they’ll implement in the pettiest and most teenage-girl-like way possible. The apparently upcoming case that the US is planning against them, for which they gave additional data with their latest kerfuffle with 37Signals. An amusing one on account of it being basically a repeat of a similar kerfuffle in 2020. And in the midst of all of this, we have the Apple Vision Pro.
You don’t need a Vision Pro. Nobody does. Much like the Apple Watch series 0, or indeed any Apple release which is supposed to disrupt a new market since 2007 or so, it very much should be treated as an open beta. Something for only the most devout (and in this case, well-off) Apple evangelists. The sort of person for whom the notch is a brilliant idea, the ones that find it inconceivable that their precious underdog of a trillion-dollar company would make a mistake. Them and, of course, the developers who will want to come up with functionality for the newest, shiniest gadget in town.
I’m neither of the two. Worse, I’m still an AR skeptic as far as this sort of implementation is concerned. I believe the reason popular computing moved from desktops to laptops to our pockets is a simple matter of ease and convenience. Strapping a computer to your face does not seem a more convenient solution to any of the above so far. And personally, I believe it will remain that way even with the inevitable development that the idea will experience, Of course I could be wrong. This article could very well join the hundreds of thousands of voices throughout history that said that the iPod was going to be little more than an expensive, complex paperweight that could not sell in anything resembling numbers. Or the ones who believed that the iPhone with its AT&T limitations and feature set was just another failing PDA that would be left in the wake of the then contemporary smartphones. But in a nod to my ego, I don’t think this will be the case this time.
A recent article claimed that the Apple Vision Pro is “Impossible to Market” (title has now changed) in its title. As far as titles go, this is not so much clickbait as it is completely incorrect, everyone with at least a passing interest in technology knows what it is. For that matter, a lot of people without an interest in technology do as well, what with it getting enough media coverage to make sure even under-rock dwellers also got the memo. What will be difficult will be conversions.
You now know what the Apple Vision Pro is. Good. What, pray tell, would you do if you bought one. What one thing can it do better than any other device that you already own (remember the price). Buying things is as much an emotional decision as it is a rational one. But apart from kids and adults who never had any sort of financial hardship, most people do need to have something rational to justify their purchase. Or at least, something rationable. Especially if they’re about to dump that much money.
I don’t think there’s a suitable answer for that at the moment. For that matter, I don’t think that’s likely to change for a little while longer yet.
