Because Apple doesn’t release specific data in its quarterly results, we’ll never really know if its new Vision Pro mixed reality headset was well-received in Canada. Analysts are talking about disappointing global sales. But Apple doesn’t care. “This is just the beginning,” assures the Duty the head of Apple’s Vision division.
“Vision Pro was functional right out of the box. You have a ton of compatible apps, you can even find a lot of local content… There’s still a lot we can do,” said Mike Rockwell, head of Apple’s Vision product division.
In typical Apple fashion, Rockwell declined to speculate on what products his company plans to release in the future. Analysts and tech watchers believe a much cheaper headset, aimed at a wider pool of potential buyers than the $5,000 Vision Pro, will be released sometime between 2025 and 2026.
The information seems credible. After all, Apple CEO Tim Cook took to the stage in Cupertino in June 2023 to preview the Vision Pro as the next big growth driver for his company, along with the Macintosh and the iPhone. Today, thanks to these two products, Apple is squabbling with Microsoft and Nvidia at the top of the list of publicly traded companies with the largest market capitalizations, somewhere around $3.5 trillion.
“Anemic” sales
There is no indication yet that mixed, virtual or augmented reality will ever reach the same level of ubiquity in the consumer market as personal and mobile computing.
In fact, it’s currently the opposite. IDC has just published a report stating that Apple will not sell 500,000 Vision Pro headsets this year. In fact, IDC calculates that Apple failed to sell 100,000 headsets in its first quarter of sales, since its initial launch in the United States in February. Sales are even said to have dropped by 75% in the United States during the current quarter.
According to IDC, the international launch should somewhat mask its more than disappointing statistics. All is not lost for Apple, since the possible launch of a cheaper headset could eliminate the main barrier to the adoption of its technology: its astronomical price.
All this put together does not seem to worry the head of this technology at Apple. The company certainly has the means to take its time in the development of this new software platform. “It’s only been a few months since we launched the headset and we arrive with visionOS 2, a major update. The technology was already ahead of everything else, now we add even more value to it,” says Mr. Rockwell.
In fact, Apple seems to want to adopt Microsoft’s approach, rather than imitating Meta, the two other big players in this still emerging market of virtual reality. Meta, the former Facebook, changed its name in 2021 to signal its shift towards the metaverse, which its big boss, Mark Zuckerberg, saw in his soup at the time.
Two years later, Meta has pivoted away from the metaverse in favor of generative artificial intelligence. Its Quest headset line now seems nestled in video games.
Microsoft has positioned its own headset, called HoloLens, in industrial applications. Agreements have been signed with large companies to make it a teleworking tool, focused on technical support and remote professional training.
Apple also wants to insert its technology into the business market, but in offices rather than on the shop floor. “It’s a work tool, not a toy,” says Mike Rockwell.
Let’s call it an office automation tool: its applications are focused on computerized office work and virtual meetings. Two years ago, when teleworking was reaching peaks of popularity, it seemed the logical approach. Today? It’s less clear.
“We see cases where people are meeting virtually in groups of up to 20 people in the same virtual room,” Rockwell adds. “For a remote worker, it’s a great way to stay connected.”
Entertainment reinvented
There will certainly be a second wind to the mixed reality imagined by Apple. In its demonstrations, which can be experienced in person in any Apple store, we see video sequences filmed during MLS soccer matches, NBA basketball, and elsewhere, where we feel all the potential of mixed reality applied to the entertainment industry.
The problem is that producing this content is demanding. The tools didn’t really exist before. “Immersive video requires 24 times the bandwidth of 4K video. The challenge is being able to deliver this content. Soon, anyone will be able to do it thanks to cameras that we are developing with Canon, among others.”
This will open the doors to Hollywood studios, Apple hopes, but also to other sectors, such as health and education. “The manufacturing and telehealth sectors have shown particular interest. The Vision Pro is a next-generation computer. We are only at the beginning of the adventure,” assures Mike Rockwell.