Apple Vision Pro opinion

November 14th, 2024

I really wanted Apple Vision Pro (AVP) to succeed but gen 1 has been a flop. To make a future for this product, Apple needs to give up on competing with Oculus. They don’t have the corporate DNA to make a gaming platform. iPhone, the most successful consumer electronic in history, is barely a gaming machine. And Meta isn’t asleep at the wheel: they’re more focused, nimble and motivated than Apple. The future of AVP is entirely based on the Apple ecosystem.

Go clone BigScreenVR. Go be the best Mac/iPhone display ever. Drop the battery, storage, “EyeSight”. USB-C/Thunderbolt 5 only. Use all these “savings” to decrease weight, get retina resolution, especially in the center of field of view. Raise the price if necessary. The Pro Display XDR is $5-7k. That’s the ceiling. At your desk, AirPlay’ing an Ultrawide monitor should be superior to having a display. On planes, plug it into an outlet and AirPlay movies from your iPhone. You can detach AVP’s success as a product from its success as a computing platform.

Apple already has two platforms: Mac & iPhone. AirPods, Apple Watch, Apple TV and honestly even iPad are just accessories to these platforms. No one’s building unique apps for these products, it’s either ports or companion apps. But accessories can be multi-billion dollar businesses and more importantly, lock consumers further into the Apple ecosystem. Spatial computing is real but it isn’t ready. The iPod was an accessory too, but it’s success taught Apple about portable, personal devices and directly led to the iPhone. Let Vision Pro be a focused, successful accessory until the next platform reveals itself.