this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2024
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Apple employees outnumbered customers at Vision Pro launch in San Francisco's Union Square::Apple’s new Vision Pro headset drew a sparse but eager crowd to San Francisco’s Union Square on Friday, for pickups and demos.

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[–] [email protected] 117 points 9 months ago (3 children)

It's $3500 of course there wasn't a "mob scene" for it.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, they're pricing themselves out of their own market. It's been happening for years but the recent economic shifts are making it more apparent.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

The MacBook Air was $3200 (which is more like $4500 in 2024 dollars) when it was announced in 2008. Early adopters pay for the future of these things and 200,000 AVPs have already been sold.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

I don't think the MacBook Airs launch is a good comparison.

Sure there was an early adopter tax on being one of the first "thin and light" laptops, but people already know what you can use a MacBook for, there was already a large value proposition in having a MacBook, the extra cost was entirely being more portable than it's full size counterparts. Everything you can do on a Mac, just way easier to take on the go.

I've read a few reviews on it, watched MKBHD's initial review, and outside of a few demo apps they point to the vision pro having no real point to it. Which if true, then it falls in line with existing VR headsets that are a fraction of it's cost and in a niche market, being three times the cost of your competitors is not a good position to be

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

That doesn’t alter the discussion around a public first launch event. Those who can readily afford it aren’t forming lines to buy it, they’re just ordering it

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

I'm almost thinking that Apple went too deep into AR/VR when it looked like there was a market for it. So over a year ago they knew this was dead-on-arrival. They'd already committed the R&D and all the facilities and materials for the first production run. Knowing its going to flop, and knowing they'd get only one shot to sell them, they hiked up the price to the point where they could extract the most money from diehard Apple fans before word got out it wasn't worth it.

They sold out all 200,000 launch day units, so perhaps Apples only mistake was pricing it too low.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

I speculate it is a test product to work towards ubiquitous ar glasses in the future. Basically to figure out the big problems, produce a few good apps, etc. before trying to make the true product.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

It’s competing with the varjo aero, not any of the low end ar tech so it’s actually half the cost of its competitor. It’s still way too expensive for consumers, but that’s not who it’s aimed at

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Valve Index+stations+controllers is 1k$

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Which it doesn’t compete with at all.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

I'm personally more exited for SimulaVR headset for spatial computer. Different target market though for sure

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

I’d say it’s more that they did a preorder. The available units are spoken for. If you got one, you might show up and pick it up… otherwise it’s not like you can walk in the door and grab one from the store. Also, it’s not like an iPhone that you can just play with on display, you need to book an appointment to try it out, so yeah, it makes sense that people aren’t gate crashing the door, there isn’t anything for them to buy or try.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (3 children)

They have an audience that will pay $1500 for a bloody phone.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You will notice through the magic of math, that 3500 is over twice as much as 1500 for a device you cannot carry with you everywhere everyday. The competition space for the Vision Pro is not iPhones, but more like the iMac Pro.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

Yeah, and everyone that has had hands-on time with it has had about the same story. It's pretty cool, it's pretty, it's the best thing we've seen yet, it's really expensive, it's still uncomfortable, it's use cases are still drastically numbered, the software market for it is still very lacking.

Oh yeah, and ecosystem lock in.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

Yes but that's $1500 they can show off.

Are there a few weirdos using their Apple Vision outside? Yes, but they aren't the norm.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

Is it blood from dragon's ass?