Apple Ushers in New Era of Spatial Experiences.
Introducing… The Vision Pro!
On Monday Apple announced its first new major product since 2014: The Apple Vision Pro. And we couldn’t be more excited about it. Yondr has waited 8 years for this day. Not because we’re Apple fanboys or girls. Nope. We’ll get to the real reasons why in a second.
Let’s talk about the actual Vision Pro here for a second first and how it affects you moving forward. Here’s how Apple CEO described the product himself at WWDC 2023 keynote:
“So in the same way that Mac introduced us to personal computing and iPhone introduced us to mobile computing, Apple Vision Pro will introduce us to spatial computing.”
That’s ambitious. Then again, it’s Apple.
Based on what we were able to see during the keynote and the handful of hands-on reviews from creators that were allowed to run through a demo themselves it’s fair to say that the UX is, expectedly, in a class of its own.
For virtual/augmented reality headsets to ever go mainstream a long list of ‘friction’ points needed to be removed first:
Bulkiness of headsets
Lack of intuitive interfaces
Terrible eye and hand-tracking
Low resolution doesn’t allow for immersion
Just to name a few.
While Apple crushed some of these issues…It didn’t solve all of them. It also doesn’t need to do all of that in the first version of the headset. What’s VERY clear is that Apple believes that the future is immersive. They’re betting on a future, as we are, that is increasingly connected and virtual.
Apple wants you to be able to move around your environment without having to remove the headset; a long-time source of frustration for VR headset owners. Their UX and incredible passthrough quality seems to be a step in the right direction.
The attention, the developer activity, and the creative brands it will attract is going to make this launch, in our humble opinion, be regarded as a historical turning point.
But we shouldn’t judge its success based on how it sells in 2024. Let’s see how many millions of people have a version of the Vision headset by 2028-2029.
Do we believe that this is going to revolutionize the XR space by next month or even next year? Definitely not. But what Apple has done here is build a beautiful foundation, driven by incredible hardware, upon which the future of movies, gaming, and social media will be built.
That price tag ($3499) makes it quite obvious that this product, this v1, is marketed towards early adopters, creators, and developers that can afford it. It would be foolish to think that this can go mainstream any time soon. But the attention, the developer activity, and the creative brands it will attract is going to make this launch, in our humble opinion, be regarded as a historical turning point.
Why?
1. When Apple launched its App Store it triggered millions of brands, teams, and organizations to develop their own apps in order to capture that first mover advantage. A similar dynamic is happening now, with brands lining up to create immersive, spatial content for their audiences.
2. It is the next generation of computation and is likely to transform the internet economy.
Apple, with its status and excellent UX track record is surely going to help pave the way for all things immersive and spatial in years to come.
So, to get back to the real reasons why we’re so excited about this launch:
We’ve been active in the immersive experiences space for a long time now. Skepticism and naysayers never really affected us much as we understood that that comes with the territory of ‘being early’. Of being pioneers and early adopters.
Apple, with its status and excellent UX track record is surely going to help pave the way for all things immersive and spatial in years to come. Even if there will be, undoubtedly, non-believers who will criticize every decision along the way.
Just think back to the first iPhone.
“A phone without buttons?!”
“I’m not paying $500 for a phone.”
Similar skepticism was heard when Apple launched the iPod. And its Airpods. And its smartwatches. All of them were disruptive in their product categories. All of them made Apple billions.
Yondr has invested 8+ years in establishing its reputation, its expertise, and its credibility. We’ve built and continue to build unique virtual, immersive experiences for brands out there that understand where the future is headed.
The way Apple positioned the Vision Pro it’s obvious that Apple, with its partnership with Disney, is going to trigger tons of immersive content (movies, TV shows, documentaries, games, sports and work)
That makes us happy. And, obviously, excited for what’s to come. Because, let’s face it. If we did great when no one cared (much)... Imagine what we can do when the Apples and the Metas of the world start onboarding the next 1 billion people into the virtual worlds we’ve been building for years.
Food For Thought
Marques Brownlee aka MKBHD has been very skeptical about Apple’s decision to get into the XR space, but definitely check out what he has to say now.
Scott Stein gives his honest opinion, the good and the bad, about the headset and the potential he sees for the future.
Tom Emrich, Director of Product at Niantic, gives you 10 takeaways from the Apple Vision Pro announcement.
Our very own Pieter (Co-Founder yondr) also went live on national television Monday evening to discuss the Apple headset and its implications for the future. If you don’t speak Dutch, feel free to reach out and we’ll find a way to get the message across one way or another!
Or if you want to dive into the (official) introduction video and check it out yourself, here’s Apple’s video on the future of ‘spatial computing’.
So if you’re tired of sitting on the sidelines and want to learn more about future-proofing your brand and tapping into audiences you otherwise wouldn’t reach: we’re here to help.
