TL;DR
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Apple just revealed it’s AR/VR headset, the ‘Vision Pro.’ And it’s as expensive as it is terrifying – $3499! (the meme’s will be strong with this one).
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It releases in the US early 2024, rest of the world TBD. We don’t know who this is for (but it seems neither does Apple).
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This is good for the metaverse (though the jury’s out on Web3).
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It’s unclear, buy it appears to be a standalone device – no other products required (the world is your screen, your eyes are the mouse, your fingers are the clicker/keyboard).
Full Story
We just finished watching the keynote reveal of Apple’s AR/VR headset, the ‘Vision Pro.’
First impressions/takeaways:
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The meme’s will be strong with this one
-
It’s as expensive as it is terrifying! $3499
-
It releases in the US early 2024, rest of the world TBD
-
We don’t know who this is for (but it seems neither does Apple)
-
This is good for the metaverse (though the jury’s out on Web3)
-
It’s unclear, but it appears to be a standalone device – no other Apple products required (the world is your screen, your eyes are the mouse, your fingers are the clicker/keyboard).
From where we stand, the Vision Pro announcement feels eerily reminiscent of the iPhone in many ways…
In that it combines a bunch of features that we already have in other products, into a single form factor.
Steve Jobs pitched the iPhone as combining: a phone, an iPod, and an ‘revolutionary internet communication device.’
The Apple Vision Pro seems to want to meld your TV, iPhone, and MacBook into a single wearable device.
Our guess is most will react along the lines of:
“Oh man, I want to try that out! …but there’s no way in hell I’m buying one at that price.”
(Like they did with the first iPhone).
But that’s not where the similarities end…
Just like the first iPhone (which had no third-party apps or app store), the Vision Pro is a blank slate for developers.
The announcement of the Vision Pro at Apple’s annual developer conference, reads as the company saying to its developer base:
“Here ya go! We made the hardware, now figure out how to make a bunch of cool apps for this thing before it launches next year!”
Ok, ok, ok…but what about the metaverse and Web3?
Well, if you boil ‘the metaverse’ down to being the ‘3D version of the internet’ – the announcement of the Vision Pro bodes well!
It might take a minute, but if anyone is going to inspire most people to buy a AR/VR headset, it’s Apple.
We’re willing to bet it’ll follow the pattern of most Apple products:
It’ll get dragged online → mocked for its price/design/similarity to competing products → …but then, in a few years time, people will be fighting to get one.
Once that ‘install base’ (aka user base) is built out, developers will be financially incentivized to take things and really run with it all!
As for Web3 (or ‘the blockchain integrated internet’) – we highly doubt those features are going to be nurtured on the device…
That said, Apple will probably allow blockchain integrated experiences to be built on the Vision Pro as long as it gets a cut of revenue.
Hey – we’ll take it!
