Apple’s next big thing is so good it has people on the verge of tears

Okay, the Macalope knows he makes a lot of Schrödinger’s cat references.

Or does he?

Whoops, he did it again.

Still, it’s hard to look at the Vision Pro (nigh impossible for most of us since it’s not out yet) and not ponder whether it’s going to be a popular product or not. Oh, certainly in the long run Apple will make it one, one way or another. But how successful will the first edition be, since it’s supposed to ship in 2024? How successful could it be?

For starters, there’s the price. $3,500 is a considerable outlay for something decidedly less than a necessity. The market for this device is definitely going to be constrained, at least to begin with. There have been multiple rumors of a lower-cost version coming later, although at one point Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that plan was shelved. Still, it seems reasonable to expect that as Apple can achieve economies of scale with Vision Pro components, it will at least continue to sell the previous years’ models at lower prices while introducing models with new features at a higher price point, as it does with the iPhone.

The rest of us may just have to wait a little longer for the Vision Pro for the rest of us.

The Macalope is afraid we have to talk about the eyes, too. The very weird eyes. These are the eyes that launched a thousand jokes and there’s no denying they look awkward as heck. But remember sending a Digital Touch on your Apple Watch? You may not because you probably never did it. It’s a feature that still exists, but it’s not a big marketing point for the Watch, and one wonders if the eyes will meet the same deemphasized fate eventually.

Not every feature Apple highlights on day one is a long-term tentpole feature. Apple billed the Watch as its most personal device ever, but if recent reports are any indication, the Vision Pro may have it beat, eyes down.

Apple

You’ve heard the phrase “There’s no there there.” Well, there’s definitely something there with the Vision Pro, since it has people who took it for a test drive almost sobbing.

“Reliving My Memories in Apple Vision Pro Almost Brought Me to Tears”

Apple recently allowed journalists to view their own spatial videos with the Vision Pro and it seems to have made believers of many of them, like Inverse’s Raymond Wong. (Editor’s note: Macworld wasn’t part of the latest Vision Pro promotion like Wong was, but our editor who did try it was impressed.)

I am more and more convinced that Apple Vision Pro will be the breakthrough device Apple is promising when the $3,500 “spatial computer” launches early next year.

A breakthrough memory machine. A creepy faceplate with eyes. A $3,500 investment. Are you getting it?

IDG

Inverse’s choice to capitalize section headings really makes the point, though.

I GOT EMOTIONAL

Whoa! Okay, okay. Hey, look, we all do sometimes.

As Wong notes, there’s no real way to show how good the Vision Pro experience is through a website. It’s the kind of thing you have to try, and it’s clearly better to try it with your own media. That makes it harder to sell, though, so Apple must be hoping to generate significant buzz.

Yeah, an Apple product with a lot of buzz? I dunno. Seems dubious.

Very few devices in the history of humankind have the kind of impact the iPhone has had, so don’t expect anything on that scale. Still, the latest reactions to it have the Macalope thinking that the Vision Pro is very much alive.

Virtual Reality, Wearables