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Video: A First Look at visionOS for the Apple Vision Pro
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Fair enough. I think the dismissiveness is at least in part due to the fact that at best, it looks like Apple has upped some technical specs on a VR headset (existing technology). Does not look groundbreaking.
And, of course, people do all those things, but they would have to own the hardware to take advantage of what you describe. Not to mention, many of those experiences are often shared. I can sit with my wife and look at photos, show her pictures of a house (even a 3D view in some websites), or watch a presentation together now without putting on a headset.
So we're to believe that Apple put together the App Store and entire iPhone SDK in less than a year because they caved to dev pressure, and that it wasn't always the plan to get iPhones in peoples hands and then roll out the SDK to devs?
Yes. Well, 18 months... iPhone launched in January 2007, AppStore in July 2008.
The SDK was extremely primitive at the time, and the AppStore was basically a repurposed iTunes Music Store. No public SDK was released for iPod.
When iPhone was announced, the demo had to be be really carefully choreographed to not fail completely. It barely came together. It's not surprising they were focused on their own problems and not on making a new computer...
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I apologize if I was not clear earlier. I am referring to developers who create spatial computing professional applications for various industries. The real estate company can purchase the hardware and provide it to prospective buyers during a walk-through of the actual home or development site. Similarly, a production company can use Vision Pro during a pitch to the company stakeholders holding the keynote and conference. This can assist them in deciding the lighting and stage design for the broadcast.
As for my hypothetical wedding photography studio, the company would purchase the hardware and use it with a custom pro app to record, edit, and package spatial videos and photos along with standard multimedia. Despite the added expense of hiring a new team member and purchasing Vision Pro hardware, the costs could be recuperated after a few sales of the premium tier. This move would also position their firm as forward-thinking and cutting-edge, appealing to all potential new clients. You're right, if the couple wants to "relive" their wedding day before a consumer version of the headset is available, it would be necessary to purchase Vision Pro. The cost of Vision Pro would likely be a small expense compared to the overall cost of the wedding, or most likely every married couple would add it to their wedding registry. 😜
This would be nice to use to visit places around the world. For example, the bottom of the ocean. But cheaper and safer than real life methods.
I want the headset even more now. visionOS is what I wish iPadOS was. It actually has good multitasking!
The same can be said about the iPad, or the iPhone, or the Mac.
I don't need the Vision Pro, I have an iPhone and iPad and a Quest 2. But I want one, because I can see what things I could do with the Vision Pro. This headset can replace my monitors, I can use it as a POV camera, I can use it as a personal IMAX theater, I can engage in VR/AR experiences with it. I see this headset and there are so many devices the Vision Pro replaces on it's own, at much better quality no less, and as we go on, more gears in my head are turning at what I could do with this.
Forget the iPad, this is an actual magical and revolutionary device.
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
Suspended
Imagine wearing an Apple Vision Pro and you get hit with this message. ☠️
I'm excited to see what Brazzers offers for this thing. Giggity.
They’ve become jaded by the general trajectory of big tech over the past decade.
I understand. But those examples (which admittedly are feasible for those situations) still leaves “the masses” with no compelling reason to want this tech, and that’s why I’m not excited about this product.
The professional use cases support development of expensive (due to low volume, niche functionality) hardware and equally expensive apps. I’m thinking engineering modeling, design, task training, and things line that, but something like the photographer example applies as well. In those cases spending thousands on hardware and thousands more on an application suite is par for the course. The rest of us are simply not doing that.
Even when a future iteration of this product gets less expensive (I have no doubt it will), most people will not buy it unless there is something compelling enough to warrant the expense and the inherent isolation provided by the experience.
The developer beta will definitely be interesting to explore, but I have next to zero interest in these flat apps. I keep an open mind, though, simply because there is a whole potentially great ecosystem just waiting to be built out and explored.
Before the announcement, I had read up on what different research institutions (mainly American universities) were doing with augmented reality setups, and, to some degree, virtual reality. A common theme was to have location awareness for the headset / headset wearer and then to have augmented reality "elements" set a different locations within a given area. This was usually a complex setup, but there were some very interesting use cases. Aside from virtual elements interacting with someone in a single room (eg. the dinosaur from the WWDC demo), I couldn't see any use cases approaching what the universities had set up.
In my mind, a visionOS "app" should be less about flat apps and more about arbitrary augmented reality bits set at almost any place in the world - virtually. One day, it could be a sign with important information floating on a wall in the hall in your office, the next it could be a virtual, semi-permanent screen that is set up in your kitchen (which was a rumored kind of feature), and the next it could be a virtual control panel that activates some instrument, etc. There are simply a ton of use cases out in industry for this kind of thing. I think this is some of what the "metaverse" concept points toward.
Maybe this is already all stuck in the visionOS SDK somehwere, and maybe I missed something - I don't know. I just hope this all is coming, sooner rather than later, because flat apps with 3D elements and insane 3D media seems very limited.
Before the announcement, I had read up on what different research institutions (mainly American universities) were doing with augmented reality setups, and, to some degree, virtual reality. A common theme was to have location awareness for the headset / headset wearer and then to have augmented reality "elements" set a different locations within a given area. This was usually a complex setup, but there were some very interesting use cases. Aside from virtual elements interacting with someone in a single room (eg. the dinosaur from the WWDC demo), I couldn't see any use cases approaching what the universities had set up.
In my mind, a visionOS "app" should be less about flat apps and more about arbitrary augmented reality bits set at almost any place in the world - virtually. One day, it could be a sign with important information floating on a wall in the hall in your office, the next it could be a virtual, semi-permanent screen that is set up in your kitchen (which was a rumored kind of feature), and the next it could be a virtual control panel that activates some instrument, etc. There are simply a ton of use cases out in industry for this kind of thing. I think this is some of what the "metaverse" concept points toward.
Maybe this is already all stuck in the visionOS SDK somehwere, and maybe I missed something - I don't know. I just hope this all is coming, sooner rather than later, because flat apps with 3D elements and insane 3D media seems very limited.
And he will be able to tell me I’m holding EVERYTHING wrong. My toothbrush. My food. My weenJust think in a few years you will be able to put on an Apple Headset and have Steve Jobs in your own home to talk to.
AI will scan every piece of audio and video there ever has been for Steve jobs, and gather information from interviews, and books, so will be able to generate Virtual Steve for each of us to talk to.
Sure, geeks did. However, mainstream regular people didn't know they wanted it until they saw it.
The SDK was released half a year after the original iPhone, and the AppStore half a year later. There is no way to architect, develop, test, refine, test, and release both an SDK and an App Store in less than a year. SJ may not have wanted them personally, but Apple always planned on having 3rd party apps.
Cook's legacy is a lot of things, AV is just one part of it.
Apple Watch is his legacy.
Apple Silicon is his legacy.
Apple Music is his legacy.
Apple TV is his legacy.
The financial health and strength of Apple is his legacy.
Etc.
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All of your examples require the consumer of the content to also have a Vision Pro. You can’t relive your spatial wedding memories without it. You need it to take those virtual real estate walk-throughs. Etc. How many people are going to buy a Vision Pro in order to relive their wedding in 3D or upgrade their late-night Zillow surfing? Not many I imagine. Such use cases are fine bonuses, but they won’t sell the product.
I wouldn’t count on a ”cheap” version anytime soon. This is pure fantasy from the fans who can’t afford the Vision Pro. If you look at Apple’s pricing history, no product has ever seen a major price drop. If anything, the opposite is true. The most expensive first generation iPhone model is cheap compared to today’s top of the line. Of course today’s top of the line is orders of magnitude better, but the pricing trajectory is clear. iPhones have only gotten more expensive. Furthermore, it took many many years for Apple to bring costs down enough to offer the cheaper iPhone SE. Vision Pro is very sophisticated. It will take considerable time to bring costs down. Finally, even if Apple releases a Vision SE headset, how many people will buy it? The iPhone SE isn’t popular. No one wants the plain old iPhone 14, only the 14 Pro.
The isolation factor is very unappealing to me, but the dystopian sci-fi fan in me sees a lot of potential. Vision Pro is going to be a great way for people to upgrade their crappy lives. I have no doubt that we’ll see real-time reality altering apps that give you a beautiful view whenever you look out your apartment window (at the brick wall four feet away)…or make your IKEA dining table look like a fancy antique. Look at your bed and instead of seeing the cheap sheets you scored at Ross, you see the finest deluxe linens. Wear Vision Pro while eating and your TV dinner “steak” magically appears to be from the finest steakhouse. The future is bright!
It was announced/revealed in January, but released to the public in June.
