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  • The Vision Pro is not another iPhone moment

    Sia
    3 replies
    I've owned more or less every XR device from the big tech companies. I bought the first Hololens from Microsoft. I bought the second Oculus Quest from Meta. I am pretty certain that Apple Vision is not another iPhone moment. In fact, it may very well be Apple's "Google Plus" moment. The high price point will make it poor for building a community. Guess what drives engagement in XR? Google Plus became a social network for geeks working at Google. Vision Pro might become a tool for uncool snobs lacking the necessary social skills to carry a community. Based on my own experience with Hololens and Quest, what would make me wear Hololens or Quest for more than 20 minutes at a time would be two application verticals. 1. Enhanced information, right in front of my eyeballs all the time. When I watch a bird in the sky, I get details about the species, the speed, the altitude and the distance. When I'm about to leave for the gym a checklist comes up making sure I brought my towel, lock, shoes, etc. 2. The ability to see through someone else's experiences first-hand in real-time. Like Twitch, but for someone doing extreme sports, or a football game referee, etc. The closest thing to any hardware in that direction I've seen is Snap's Spectacles and they are very far from possessing the required processing power for any of the above use cases. That kind of power is what Apple has been waiting for, but due to a number of factors they now released a device with sub-par capabilities to be "NextGen" and instead a significantly more expensive clone with limited community and useless battery range. What is your take?

    Replies

    Kavita
    Roast My Meal by Hoku
    Roast My Meal by Hoku
    I feel somewhat similarly - I do think the price point means Apple will struggle to build an early community of power users that will drive momentum for wider adoption. BUT I do think Vision Pro is just the first step. I think part of them releasing early is to inspire developers to start contributing to the Vision Pro ecosystem and hopefully design the killer app Vision Pro needs. I fully expect (and hope) Apple to release cheaper versions of their glasses going forward which will make it more accessible.
    Sia
    @kkavita Everything before the but is useless. If you disagree, disagree. Don't say I agree "but" ... :')