After months of speculation, Apple last week unveiled its first headset, ultra-expensive mixed-reality goggles brimming with 2023’s most advanced technologies. But outside a coterie of fawning YouTubers, the world largely shrugged its shoulders.
That the Vision Pro hasn’t grabbed the imagination of consumers is not surprising. The $3,500 sticker price is enough to make even the most ardent Apple fan think twice — especially in South Africa where the bruised rand, import duties and VAT could push the product beyond R80,000.
Not that this first-generation headset will officially come to South Africa — like the iPhone, it’ll probably go global only in the second or third iteration. South Africans with pockets deep enough to import a first-gen Vision Pro when it goes on sale in the US early next year will probably have to forgo warranties and after-sales service.
But will it be worth buying at all?
Only a handful of journalists have had the chance to try the Vision Pro, and most say Apple’s interpretation of a mixed-reality headset (one that combines virtual and augmented reality) is easily the best they’ve seen. It’s superior, they say, to Meta’s offerings. But Meta’s most expensive headset costs less than a third of Apple’s, and its new Meta Quest 3 costs just $500. Is Apple pricing itself out of the market before it’s even launched its first-gen product?
It might not matter. Several reports say Apple expects to sell “only” 900,000 first-gen Vision Pros, a drop in the ocean compared with annual iPhone shipments — 225-million last year.
Much more so than with the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, Apple is throwing an idea against a wall and seeing if it sticks.
What the Vision Pro now needs is a “killer app”, something that makes it a must-buy. That wasn’t in evidence during Apple’s presentation and the company knows it, which is why it’s opening the platform — and its operating system, visionOS — to developers.
Remember, the iPhone only really came alive when Apple launched the App Store, a year after the device’s release. That sparked a multibillion-dollar app ecosystem and turned the iPhone from merely good hardware into a powerful platform for innovation.
The “app economy” went on to give birth to companies such as Uber (ride hailing), Airbnb (home rentals marketplace), Instagram (social photography) and WhatsApp (instant messaging).
The iPhone’s phenomenal success won’t last forever. It will eventually be displaced by something else and no-one — not even Apple — knows what that will be. But CEO Tim Cook is betting that mixed reality will provide at least part of the answer.
The most interesting applications include greater immersion while watching television or movies and having access to a wide range of sports information during a game
The ultimate success — or otherwise — of the Vision Pro is not entirely in Apple’s hands. It needs developers to make the headset successful. Will there be an Uber, Instagram or Airbnb of “spatial computing”, as Apple calls it? It’s too early to tell.
A few clues during the launch suggested where this technology might go. The most interesting applications include greater immersion while watching television or movies and having access to a wide range of sports information during a game.
Another interesting application was the use of the headset to communicate in a virtual space with others as if they’re in the same room. Watch a movie or sports game together? Check. Get front-row seats with friends to a virtual rock concert? Check. Collaborate with colleagues around a virtual boardroom table? Check. (Only time will tell whether this is a better experience than a Teams or FaceTime call.)
For a first-generation product — and you should never buy first-gen tech — the Vision Pro is a beautifully designed piece of hardware that teases just enough of what might be possible. It will improve each year, and it will spark a wave of investment by other technology companies that don’t want to miss the boat.
And prices will fall. Whereas the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch have become more expensive since they were launched, that’s unlikely here. Apple aimed high with the first version, wanting to demonstrate what can be done with a halo product. A cheaper version (bet you it’s called Vision One) will entice more people. And the Vision Pro will shrink as silicon chips advance and as batteries, cameras and display technologies improve.
But is this the natural evolution of the smartphone? Will broad acceptance of mixed-reality goggles point to a future where tech is much more “personal”; the start of human beings embracing the merger of technology and biology?
While it’s impossible to make an accurate prediction about where all this is headed, what is certain is that tens of billions of dollars will flow into figuring it out.
* McLeod is editor of TechCentral
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