The fundamental vocabulary of any new medium inherits from that of its predecessor. Take, for example, the early days of television, when so many shows were essentially radio programs shot on film. The success of the new medium depends on the development of its own vocabulary, which distinguishes itself from previous examples.
In the case of the Vision Pro, the connection to a predecessor couldn’t be more obvious. An important part of Apple’s content strategy is the ability to run iPadOS apps on the headset. When browsing the visionOS App Store, users choose between content developed specifically for the platform and content created for the tablet. It’s similar to the approach the company took to build the Mac App Store, which derives from iOS and iPadOS apps.
While 600 is a good number of “optimized” apps to launch a first-gen product, the availability of iPadOS content really bolsters the basics and gives developers a little extra time to create something custom while bigger names like YouTube break down targets their. When it comes to what constitutes “optimized,” we’re talking about a wide range. This could mean something as simple as a change to the UX to reflect Vision Pro’s hand tracking. It could also mean something much more riveting.
I understand if you didn’t make it to last week’s 6,000 word review, so here’s a bit of TL;DR: Vision Pro will live or die on the backs of developers. As I noted earlier, the first iPhone was undoubtedly a revolutionary piece of hardware, but it was the iPhone 3G’s App Store that really opened up the industry. At this point we all basically understand that a hardware platform is only as good as its content, and Apple really showed how capable its smartphone was by opening it up to developers.
Truly immersive experiences are very much in the minority in the current state of Vision Pro. No surprise, really. While the development – to some extent – has been open for months, I’m sure many places have been waiting for the release to gauge the real interest of both the public and their developers.
This is not to say that immersion is not present in the current offering. First, it’s big on Environments — a key feature of visionOS that serves as a kind of immersive desktop wallpaper, putting you on the moon, in a desert, or on the edge of a volcano. Experience Dinosaurs, meanwhile, does a great job of leveraging the knowledge of the Prehistoric Planet team to create one of Vision Pro’s most exciting demos. It is such content that shows potential that can be exploited by future developers.
One of the device’s initial creativity problems, however, is where Apple chose to focus its initial push. In my review, I hammered home the idea of the “infinite desktop,” a play on the phrase “infinite canvas” that goes to the heart of the “local computing” experience that Tim Cook has been pushing since day one. At its core, Apple sees the device as the next step in a journey that began with the Mac decades ago. For now, it’s designed to play nice with desktops and laptops, but it’s easy to imagine a future where (if things go as the company hopes) Apple’s main computer is the one you’ll stick to your face.
This push came as a surprise to many at last year’s WWDC. I suspect it also left many fans cold. A 360-degree desktop is exciting, but there’s a sense that it’s almost a commercialization of the form factor we’ve been sold as the future of entertainment for decades. A big part of that push is obvious: the first-generation product is $3,500. Businesses have much deeper pockets than consumers. How do you sell them?
Education apps are a big part. If a company believes it can save money on employee training along the way, it will gladly pay the initial cost. Rendering is also a piece — see apps like JigSpace as an example of real-time 3D modeling. Imagine, for example, creating a 3D render of a car in 3D design software, exporting it, and then being able to walk around it. The third key point is productivity. That’s where spatial computing comes in. That means products like Microsoft Word and applications like mind mapping, traditionally limited by computer screens.
Entertainment is here too, but seems largely secondary to visionOS in its current form. Part of the answer lies in the name of the product. Given the current structure of Apple’s product line, “Vision Pro” hints at the future existence of an “Apple Vision” — that is, a consumer handset priced well below $3,500. If you know anything about hardware, you know how much first generation products absorb R&D costs, as well as smaller scale manufacturing. Bleed components such as the 4K eye are very expensive to produce until scaled up.
So you position the product as premium and sell it to businesses. Games and movies are present because they can’t be. The idea of a “working machine” doesn’t exist like it did decades ago. The iPhone played a huge role in blurring that line, for better or worse, making the productivity machine its own distraction device. If you bring your work laptop on a business trip, chances are pretty good you’ll fire up Netflix at some point.
Perhaps the more affordable version of the product will find Apple shining brighter in the center of immersive entertainment. As it stands, many of the experiences are iPadOS apps played on a virtual big screen, rather than something that takes advantage of immersion and hand tracking in a way that couldn’t be replicated in the medium that came before it. For now, it looks like there’s a reason Apple doesn’t want people to call the Vision Pro “VR.”
This morning, I played a few rounds of Synth Riders. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because it’s also available in Meta Quest — that’s a pretty easy port. In fact, many of the first exciting entertainment experiences will likely follow this route. If you’re already developing for VR, why not tap into this growing market? Synth Riders is a rhythm game not too dissimilar to Rock Band, where your hands (or controllers in the case of Meta Quest) control two orbs that collect points as you move them correctly to the beat of a synthwave track.
I found it fascinating. It’s also the closest I’ve come to using a fitness app on the device. This is due to limitations with the weight, price and damn battery of the headphones. The Vision Pro is not designed for you to jump around and sweat a lot. This, however, feels like a blind spot for a company that is so focused on the space through its Apple Watch and Fitness+ app. Maybe as Apple cuts weight and finds a more manageable battery solution? Again, a lot of our conversations at Vision Pro focus heavily on the first generation hump.
Ultimately, however, wider consumer appeal will depend on two key things: 1) Cost reduction and 2) Content. Both will make or break the mainstream of future devices, and whether Apple currently recognizes it or not, entertainment and fitness should play a key role in this journey.
