Vision Pro goes global, but attention is hard to raise
Stop and reflect and it’s quite clear that Vision Pro is not an iPod, iPhone, or even iMac moment for the company. I don’t think it matters because already in its young life the product has influenced the future direction of the whole product category.
Spatial computing is here to stay.
The story so far
The journey so far has seen the product claim some potentially lucrative scalps. That means clearly valuable use cases, particularly in the enterprise, education, and medical sectors, and elsewhere. Any place in which wearing a Mac like sunglasses will make a positive difference? That’s where visionOS is at.
It’s also not at all surprising that even as Apple got ready to finally ship Vision Pro outside the US of A, the Overton Window of tech media reporting shifted swiftly to looking at what the next generation product may deliver.
Look next
In this case, that means a bit of a longer wait for the Vision Pro 2, and a one-year gap until the lower cost visionOS product, which may use the phenomenal quantity of extra computational processing cycles the next-generation iPhone and M4-powered iPad/mac will provide to drive your vision. All encased in a headset that doesn’t make you look like you’ve taken the wrong turn on your way to the sub-aquatic fetish party. (Though if the EU gets its way there’s probably going to be an app for a virtual version of that).
It’s out there
But if you can’t wait to see what it may end up living in a real life version of Tron with better graphics and more sophisticated designers, Apple’s Vision Pro is out there – really, it’s out there – and ready and waiting for you to slap some decent dollar down to snag yourself a chance to go explore the kick inside it brings.
It’s just a shame (in the UK, at least) that the product seems set to land shortly after the nation replaces arguably the worst government it’s had since King John (albeit with higher taxation). It is also unfortunate the incoming replacement seems to combine the arrogance of King Charles I with the political awareness of Edward II and will no doubt struggle to make it through an entire term.
His dad was a toolmaker, after all.
Stagnation island
UK sales may be soft for some time.
The nation can barely deal with the reality it is in, yet alone a virtual one.
But flawed UK politics aside (and did anyone catch the US president’s debate?), the real truth is the world is aching for more solutions to much bigger problems (climate change, wealth inequality, genocide, etc.) than even iPods could have delivered, and in that clash between consumer aspiration and the end of everything, it’s not a terrible surprise new tech hardware isn’t seen as the answer it once was.
Spatials for hope
All the same, the introduction of wearable computing technology may – I think, will, eventually be seen as a moment during which essential tools and essential concepts appeared that will help forge a more positive path forward. One hopefully (though not certainly) with Peace and Justice at its core.
After the chaos subsides…
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