Apple’s Vision Pro is a long-term bet on a future we may never see

Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) is usually the Coachella of tech for developers working within the Apple ecosystem. It’s where Tim Cook and co usually unveil the next iteration of operating systems, with the occasional hardware unveiling thrown in from time to time.

This year’s WWDC was all that and a whole lot more. Prior to the event’s keynote, rumours abounded that Apple was finally going to be unveiling its long-awaited mixed-reality headset, making WWDC 23 one of the most highly anticipated Apple events in a very long time.

After showcasing the new M2 Ultra chip, a new 15-inch MacBook Air and all the new features for iOS, tvOS, watchOS, iPadOS and MacOS, Tim Cook uttered the iconic “one more thing” line famously used by Steve Jobs.

This was followed by the unveiling of the Vision Pro mixed-reality headset as well as the VisionOS operating system.

Described as spatial computer, Vision Pro looks like something that only Apple could’ve designed, with a price tag to match.

While the $3499.00 price tag drew surprised murmurs from the attending crowd, it’s the use cases and videos that Apple showed off to promote the headset that has sparked the biggest conversation.

In a companywide meeting, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said; “I think that their announcement really showcases the difference in the values and the vision that our companies bring to this in a way that I think is really important.” He then continued to espouse the virtues of the Meta Quest line, stating that it was about “people interacting in new ways and feeling closer”.

If you look at it from the perspective that virtual reality (VR) headsets like the Quest have been primarily focused on gaming and creating virtual worlds and spaces where people could engage and interact with people from around the world, then sure, he’s right, Apple’s vision showed people sitting in isolated environments (mostly) enjoying things alone (unless you count FaceTime and the fact that Apple’s mixed reality approach allows you to blend the real world and the digital world without isolating you in a virtual world where the only way someone can engage with you is by buying a VR headset and joining said virtual world). Apple certainly could’ve showcased more social and communal usecases for the Vision Pro, but why create offerings like virtual hang out spaces that in the past have been used to harass people?

Meta’s attempts at virtual worlds haven’t worked out the way they’d hoped, much like marketing VR to gamers in the hopes that it would go mainstream hasn’t worked in the many years every VR maker has been trying it. Why replicate features and offerings that don’t have mass appeal?

Now, I’m not saying that capturing 3D videos of your children while wearing Vision Pro is going to have mass appeal but it’s clear that Apple’s intention for the headset is more than just recreational, they want it to be an integral part of your daily life, just like their products.

Apple is at a stage where they need to look at a future beyond the iPhone. The culture and industry shifting device is a juggernaut that cannot be stopped, but that won’t always be the case. Ultimately, a phone is a phone. There are some that charge faster or have higher megapixel count cameras and even some that can fold, but fundamentally they all do the same thing and no amount of folding or crazy high megapixel count is going to change that. So, what’s next?

Clearly Apple sees spatial computing as a potential future for its ecosystem.

The beauty of what the Cupertino tech giant has done isn’t in the hardware design of the headset but rather in its steady, always the same, approach to its software offerings. For years there have been complaints that all Apple products look the same and behave the same way and that there’s really very little way to tell the difference between them. Instead of jumping and deriding Apple for that, ask yourself why they would do that and why that’s worked for them (and maybe ask why the company’s most vocal opponents are now following the exact same playback)?

Familiarity.

The way we engage with technology has been changing for years. Now, many of us can speak to Siri or Alexa or Google Assistant and ask it to perform a task, which its does (with varying levels of success). An expansion of that type of ambient computing seems to be the most likely future for the technology world and Apple appears to be hoping that Vision Pro can add a visual element to that in the most natural way that’s possible now.

Vision Pro isn’t about a world beyond the iPhone now; this is a long-term bet that Apple hopes will help it continue to be the world’s most valuable tech company well into the next few decades.

I’m not saying that it will fail or that Apple is only doing this for money, but with an uncertain future ahead for the tech world and every major tech brand throwing out its vision of the future, Apple’s going to need to create a watershed moment that tips the public in their favour and cements spatial computing as the tech world of the future, and right now, they don’t have that.