If you haven’t heard the news yet, don’t worry. Apple Inc. is doing it rather quietly. Apparently, they didn’t have the ‘vision’ for it (pun intended). But don’t be alarmed, if you are one of those with the deep pockets, you can still order one as it is still for sale.
Apple Inc. shook the world with the announcement of their latest tech gadget in June of last year. Fans were excited as they must have thought that they are witnessing a revolutionary leap in the tech world and that again by Apple. It was like watching the announcement of the iPod or the iPhone back in the olden days. However, their mood got a bit mild after the price announcement.
Apple Vision Pro is an AR (Augmented Reality) headset with some remarkably amazing features. It is definitely a game-changer with its gesture control features and doesn’t require any controllers. It opened a whole lot of different possibilities on how we view the world. The immersion that the Vision Pro offered its users is unprecedented. However, to pack so many features into this new mega project, there had to be some drawbacks.
First of all, the Apple Vision Pro was huge, literally. It is one of the biggest headsets you have ever seen. On top of that, the headset wasn’t the only ‘portable’ part of the device. There was this battery unit that you had to carry with you to make sure the headset was powered. But these are just nitpicking. Of course, every new tech has some compromises, right? Remember those bulky laptops of the 90s? Other than the size issue, the Vision Pro was priced at a whopping $3,499. Then again, it can be justified by the ‘new’ tech argument here as well. But is it new tech?
VR (Virtual Reality) headsets have been among us for a while now. Several developments in the 20th century laid the groundwork for the future of computers. However, it all really took off in the early 2010s when Facebook (Now Meta) bought Oculus. They immediately started working on this revolutionary product and, in fact, released one in 2012. The Oculus Rift was a major failure for the company as, just like the Vision Pro, it was too chunky to carry around. And it was also a tad bit expensive at $599 in 2012. Facebook, however, did manage to turn things around as they were able to rebrand the VR headsets and introduced new models, the Oculus Quest 1, 2, and later 3, and were relatively successful in the market. In fact, the Quest 3 is considered to be the best VR/AR headset you can buy right now.
So, other than the size and the price, where did Apple go wrong with this one? Or did they even go wrong? The second question is the one we should be focusing on. You see, Apple Inc. is one of the biggest companies in the world. It lies among the handful of companies with over a trillion-dollar valuation. Companies like these can certainly play around with some expensive experiments. That’s right, the Apple Vision Pro was certainly an experiment. More like ‘testing the waters’ before jumping in.
Is this the end of Apple’s AR dream, then? Certainly not. There is a reason why Apple didn’t market this product like crazy. Every time a new Apple product is out, you can feel the anticipation not just in the tech world but everywhere. Even after the announcement of the Vision Pro, apart from some of our favourite tech YouTubers, we barely saw anyone else talking about it. And there is a good reason for that: the world isn’t ready for this next step.
Back when computers became laptops, not everyone had them. Simply because they were too expensive and no one thought that they needed it. AR/VR technology is still in its early days despite the fact that it is so advanced right now. Apple certainly got a few things wrong with their first release, but they are definitely not done in this area. And even though it may seem like their competitors have gotten the edge over them, they are against Apple Inc., a company that excels against all odds.
