The Vision Pro is now available for sale! Apple has released videos and press releases detailing the experiences that will be available on day one and people are already complaining about the services. won’t Be there. But overall it seems like a great product.
But how will this work? Not technically, but as a business. Can it succeed?
Unless you’re extremely wealthy and wouldn’t think of spending $3,500 on an impulse purchase, the barrier to purchasing the Vision Pro is high. Most people will want to try it first, which means going to a mall. For about an hour. In 2024. Eesh. Who wants to do this? Next, unless you are lucky enough to have 20/20 vision, you will need to get an up-to-date prescription. And is it from an optometrist or an ophthalmologist? Who knows? Then you’ll have to shell out an additional $149 (or $99 for over-the-counter readers).
It’s not like strolling through Costco and sheepishly picking up another pair of AirPods because, yes, you lost them. Again. This requires some work before you even get to the payment part.
There is a previous product that might give us an idea of the Vision Pro’s prospects. The original HomePod was also a premium product; “Look how good we sound!” » This was ideal for people who want the best sound. Now, audiophiles, if you can, skip to the next paragraph. They left? Okay, yeah, the rest of us know that most people don’t care. Of course we want GOOD audio, but it doesn’t have to be so finely tuned in Ogg Vorbis that your homeowners association writes you because they think you have a 70-person orchestra in your house. Good enough is good enough for a lot of people.
Okay, let’s go find the audiophiles. We’ll see you at the meeting for the normals later. Hey, audiophiles! No, we weren’t talking about you.
Moving on, if we use the HomePod example – a convenient example to use since the Vision Pro costs 10 times more than the original HomePod – a non-Pro Apple Vision headset would cost $999. If you look at other headsets on the market, this seems like an Apple price, but the Macalope would be very surprised to see one for so little.
If we’re still trying to figure out how this is going to work, it’s probably relevant to remember that the original HomePod doesn’t work. The $350 price tag was just more than most people wanted to pay for a smart speaker back when Amazon practically gave them away. But it worked well enough to pave the way for the HomePod mini, which was a big hit at $99. And the HomePod returned last year at a reduced price of $299.
So we decided that the price of the Vision Pro needed to come down. We are very smart and do a great job here. Unfortunately, you can’t go all the way. You can’t just say “Make it cheaper.” Well you can say that, but Tim Cook is going to slap you with an old burrito. The one he found in the executive fridge that says “PROPERTY OF RON JOHNSON – DO NOT EAT, PHIL!» You see, there’s this little thing called “economies of scale” that Apple has to achieve to bring prices down. It’s like driving to New York. You must pass through upstate New Jersey. Nobody wants to, but that’s how you get there. Even if you’re from Connecticut for some reason. Nobody knows why.
IDG
Apple can’t get parts cheaper until large numbers of them are manufactured and the process becomes more efficient. Good news, the Vision Pro seems to be starting well.
“Apple has reportedly sold nearly 200,000 “very specialized” Vision Pro headsets”
These aren’t iPhone numbers, but the iPhone doesn’t cost $3,500.
So it will probably take Apple longer to lower the price of the Vision Pro or simply offer a Vision for the rest of us. But it will happen. And there’s a reason they say patience is a virtue.
