Vision Pro is already changing everything we know about Apple

Nearly eight months after its presentation at last year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, the Apple Vision Pro is about to go on sale: Apple announced that pre-orders for the device will begin on January 19 and that the Vision Pro should be available in stores starting January 19. February 2.

Although this is the company’s first major new platform in almost a decade, the fanfare over the Vision Pro’s arrival has been decidedly muted. Apple didn’t hold another event, opting instead for a press release and teaser ad, and the company didn’t add much in the way of new information about the product and its capabilities.

This is not entirely surprising, however. While we may have been accustomed to a certain style of product launch from Apple, the Vision Pro is a very different type of device, and that requires a very different type of release.

Less is… less

Obviously, Apple is making this first version of the Vision Pro in very small quantities. This in itself is not unusual for Apple: it takes time to ramp up production of new devices and even new models of existing products to reach the huge quantities at which the company sells them, but if the reports are accurate, the target the quantities intended for the space computer number in the hundreds of thousands for the year. For a company that regularly processes millions, if not tens of millions, these are small potatoes.

In my opinion, this helps explain some of the muted launch. Apple is aware that the high price and innovative nature of the Vision Pro are not likely to attract the public’s attention the way the iPhone or even the Apple Watch did. Yes, Apple would undoubtedly like to sell millions and millions of them, but even the company knows that won’t happen in the first iteration.

So why spend too much time, effort and money promoting a product that the vast majority of people won’t buy? I sincerely doubt that any amount of advertising will get someone to shell out $3,500 if they haven’t already committed to doing so. The Vision Pro business is an investment for Apple, which will probably not be profitable for several years.

What’s in store

There’s another reason Apple might want to soften this launch more than those of its previous products: the retail experience. The company has often described the Apple Watch as the most personal device it makes, but I think there are certainly elements of the Vision Pro that surpass it. Not only does the device potentially require fine tuning, including the use of additional lens inserts, but it is also something that many people, both staff and customers, will need to be trained in its use for.

Enter the Apple Store. Reports suggest that the company has already started recruiting one or two employees from each store in Cupertino to train them not only to sell it to customers, but also to train their colleagues to sell the product when they return to their stores respective.

Apple

Given that Apple has stated that the Vision Pro will be available in all out of its 273 retail stores, that represents a large number of potential customers who might be interested in at least checking out the device, if not the whole shopping experience. While it’s clear that Apple has no antipathy toward people lining up to buy its products, the demo and purchase processes will likely take a long time, which could prompt the company to manage demand.

The future is yet to come

Looking ahead, it’s pretty easy to see future versions of Vision Pro hardware appealing more to the average consumer, but you can’t ignore the software side of the equation either. The Vision Pro is a completely new platform with a completely new method of interaction. In many ways, it’s as different from the iPhone and iPad as it is from the Mac. And while the company is working to enable developers to create compelling software for this new platform, it’s decidedly a marathon, not a sprint.

Even more than its previous platforms, the Vision Pro presents a chicken-and-egg problem for Apple: encouraging people to buy a new platform relies at least to some extent on the idea that you can TO DO interesting things with that. But developers may also be reluctant to invest their time and energy if there isn’t a reasonably sized potential market. (Not to mention that developers must first be customers themselves, and small independent developers may balk at the price of even investing in the platform.)

The bridge to this is Apple’s built-in apps, enabling a basic degree of functionality as third-party software gradually develops. While the company has showcased many of its existing apps running on the platform, it appears to be taking a more conservative approach to promoting the ecosystem, potentially keeping its powder dry for a future big push centered around a platform. -more robust and more populated form.

Even for a company as large and influential as Apple, launching an entirely new platform comes with risk and volatility. Everything about the nature of this launch tells me that the company is managing the long-term success of the platform. While a blockbuster launch might provide a target for the Vision Pro for those looking to label it a failure, Apple is instead flying under the radar, slowly and quietly building the Vision Pro to give the device its best chance to succeed. to be the next in the company. great success story.