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Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

bloomberg.com

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Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#281

Post by kreitje »

hghid wrote: post #197

Slightly tangential rant, but is anybody else becoming frustrated with the process of buying Apple products in Apple stores? For me, it started with the Apple Watch - I knew which one I wanted and was ready just to head down and buy one, but I was forced to sit through an entire "fitting" with patronising explanation on how to use the knob on the the side. Recently, I wanted to buy a new Phone. Again, I knew the one…

A few years back I bought a MBP online with the pickup option. I picked it up, declined their assistance setting it up and went about my day.

I get home later that day, start to set it up and it’s locked to employees of a bank in Canada. Live support is no help so I take it back, only to find out the serial number did not match that on the box. They had their security guard quietly come stand near me until they figured out what they wanted to do.

The sales guy told me since they can’t prove I stole it they were giving me a different one. I think they knew it was previously returned and realized they got scammed by someone else the first time around.

This time I made sure I could login before I left.

Within the return window the new 16” came out at the same price so I took it in and swapped it for the 16”. They just took it, handed me the new laptop, transferred Apple Care and sent me on my way. It made sense as they didn’t bother to verify the box/device serial number with me. They took my word and processed everything in a matter of minutes.

Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#282

Post by howinteresting »

robg wrote: post #63
robg wrote: post #2

Wow, imagine if Apple starts integrating their stores with their products into connected life experiences. The stores become showcases for personalized experiences for life, work, and play. Companies are already integrating Watch and VisionPro with biofeedback. Might be something consumers need to deeply experience to believe, from the spatial desktop to music, games, and movies, desk to couch to bed.

Some examples: - Game play that changes with your heart rate - Switching easily from work mode to a meditation - Getting ready for bed by watching a VR sunset Imagine walking into an Apple Store and seeing as new customers are getting fitted and exploring these experiences on 100” OLEDs. Converting the masses requires displaying entirely new experiences, from work to play.

Wait, you're being earnest here?

Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#283

Post by BizarreByte »

ajmurmann wrote: post #88
r_hoods_ghost wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How on earth is forcing someone to go to a store, probably only in a few select locations far away from where you live, low friction?

How sparse are Apple Stores where you live? I have three within very comfortable driving distance and I live in a mid-sized city's metro.

There is one in the whole on Nova Scotia. Not everywhere in an American city.

Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#284

Post by scarface_74 »

smoldesu wrote: post #268
scarface_74 wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who are buying a $60 unsubsidized phone are not going to all the sudden be able to afford a $400+ iPhone. Apple has never in 40+ years catered toward the low end.

People who are priced out of an iPhone Pro are not going to take out a loan to pay for a headset they'll use like a game console. If they're not replacing their iPhone with it, there's no point in buying it. It's a product that inherently relies on an ecosystem (albeit a strong one) to survive. Much like the iPad and the Apple Watch, if the iPhone and it's app ecosystem didn't exist it would be DOA. So... assuming yo…

> People who are priced out of an iPhone Pro are not going to take out a loan to pay for a headset they'll use like a game console

Yet people take out 0% interest loans from Apple to buy $3000* laptops?

Besides, in most countries, people tend to pay cash for phones and carriers don’t offer payment plans.

> with it, there's no point in buying it. It's a product that inherently relies on an ecosystem (albeit a strong one) to survive

You mean like you can’t use an Apple Watch at all without an iPhone paired to it initially - not even the cellular Apple Watch and I doubt very many people are buying AirPods that don’t own Apple devices. The main value add over other BT headsets is the tight integration.

> Much like the iPad and the Apple Watch, if the iPhone and its app ecosystem didn't exist it would be DOA.

But the iPhone does exist and Apple’s services revenue from selling to existing users is larger than its revenue from the Mac and iPad revenue combined.

To a first approximation, no one buys Apple Watches for its third party app ecosystem. Most use it for notifications from the phone, for workouts using first party apps and for times when they don’t want to have their phones on them like running or other exercise

> I wager more iPhone users will own Quest headsets than Apple-branded ones by 2025.

And more iPod users and iPhone users own Windows PCs.

Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#285

Post by robg »

howinteresting wrote: post #278
robg wrote: post #2

Wow, imagine if Apple starts integrating their stores with their products into connected life experiences. The stores become showcases for personalized experiences for life, work, and play. Companies are already integrating Watch and VisionPro with biofeedback. Might be something consumers need to deeply experience to believe, from the spatial desktop to music, games, and movies, desk to couch to bed.

You understand that this is miserable and dystopian, right? As humans we shouldn't be leading that kind of "integrated", "personalized" life. We already have too much of that going on with YouTube and Facebook.

Better context switching from work to meditation to entertainment then sleep. Anything health serious in that direction with biomarkers would be far better than what we have now for screen time.

Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#286

Post by ketzo »

drewg123 wrote: post #136

This product has opened my eyes to "AR" glasses in general, but I think its way overkill for what I want to do.. My use case is being able to code with a giant screen anywhere (plane, hotel room, etc). I just want a few giant editor windows and terminals open. I don't care about gaming, AR gimmicks, etc. From what I understand, there are a number of sub $500 options. (xreal air, rokud air, TCL NXTWEAR, etc). However…

Apple’s thesis seems to be that it is not overkill — that, in fact, every other option is significantly underkill, and that’s why you don’t use them despite knowing they exist.

Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#287

Post by mytailorisrich »

georgespencer wrote: post #264
mytailorisrich wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect that they don't expect high volumes so rather than giving the impression that the launch is a failure they turn it into an exclusive club product.

Supply chain scuttlebutt is that the display technology is so constrained[^1] that Apple expects to only _manufacture_ 400,000 headsets next year. It's possible that this product will flop, but I can't see it being anything other than sold out everywhere for most of 2024. Heck, you can make a reasonable case for there only being 10k-30k SKUs in channel inventory at launch, and Apple has 275 retail locations which req…

It'll be by appointment so they can control the tap, say it is sold out, say there is a waiting list. Create a buzz.

Cynically, a case in point is the display: it is so new and advanced that they have problems ramping production!

Whether issues are real or not, I am sure that Apple's marketing team knows how to spin everything. They are famous for that and indeed one of the best.

Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#288

Post by robg »

howinteresting wrote: post #282
robg wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some examples: - Game play that changes with your heart rate - Switching easily from work mode to a meditation - Getting ready for bed by watching a VR sunset Imagine walking into an Apple Store and seeing as new customers are getting fitted and exploring these experiences on 100” OLEDs. Converting the masses requires displaying entirely new experiences, from work to play.

Wait, you're being earnest here?

1000%. I’ve worked for almost 15 years in empathic computing, what we have now for screen time is already deeply dystopian. So the question remains how next generation computing experiences can make our connected lives better. Because connectivity isnt going away, and maybe if we’re strapping it to our face we’ll be much more conscious of the times we choose not to.

Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#289

Post by gpm »

hordehamhill wrote: post #168
drewg123 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had always looked at things like Oculus as a "gaming" accessory. And I demoed Google Glass about 10 years ago, and it didn't present a virtual screen. When seeing the Apple goggles, it clicked for me that this was basically a mac environment, and I started thinking how amazing it would be to run terminals in it, then I started googling for any options that were available now..

Crazy. That's the power of marketing eh. Almost as soon as the DK1 was available, people were running desktop envs inside VR. 3D modelling, CAD, multiple floating desktops, watching movies videos in 3D or big fake theaters, panoramic photos... Google even had a 3D paintbrush program demo on their cardboard product half a decade or more ago. This is stuff all been explored before.

I have a Valve Index, I've tried it, the resolution is simply not good enough for it to be comfortable as a screen replacement. It (and all VR headsets before it) were simply not reaching the minimum viable product level of hardware for this use case.

Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#290

Post by nomel »

scarface_74 wrote: post #230
bstar77 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple probably wants to tap into the "Apple Watch Edition" crowd that will spend absurd money for the exclusivity and not complain much.

There was no “crowd”. If there were, the $10K watch wouldn’t have been cancelled after tte first generation

I saw exactly one person in the wild wearing one: a store manager at pizza chain. It was completely obsolete at that point.
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