apple vision pro It could transform the way we watch TV at home and use computers at work, with headsets potentially replacing both traditional TVs and Macs.
The $3,500 headset, which blends three-dimensional digital content with views of the outside world, arrived in the company's U.S. brick-and-mortar stores on Friday. The company is primarily limited to the video game market and enters a market crowded with low-cost rivals such as Metaplatform and HTC, which have yet to capture a mass audience.
Apple has had mixed results for developers. Netflix, one of the most popular consumer video apps, has not created a new app for the Vision Pro, but consumers can watch movies and series in their web browser on the device. .
YouTube said it has no plans to release new apps for the device, but consumers can use the Safari web browser instead. Music streaming service Spotify is also not developing an app for the product, according to people familiar with the matter.
The expensive device has a custom computing chip and a difficult-to-manufacture display that rivals don't have. Analysts who have tried the headset say these features could make the device a threat to almost any large two-dimensional screen in the home or workplace.
The Walt Disney Co. has been secretly working with Apple for years to develop apps for the launch of Vision Pro, and this is the latest in a history of collaboration between the two companies.
“When we looked at this, it became clear to us that this was a new canvas for how to tell stories in a way we hadn't seen before,” said Aaron Laberge, Disney Entertainment's chief technology officer. “And it became very clear that I wanted to do something here as a way to develop myself.”
Tell your story in new ways
The Disney+ app envelops movie viewers in one of four environments to watch movies. Star Wars: The Force Awakensor catch a futuristic drive-in movie theater from the seat of a fictional X-34 landspeeder ship on the planet Tatooine avengers: endgame From inside Avengers Tower in midtown Manhattan.You can also watch 42 Disney movies in 3D, including box office hits Avatar: Water Path, black leopard and inside out.
Jamie Voris, chief technology officer at Walt Disney Studios, said: The Lion King Directors Jon Favreau and James Cameron Avatar I'm interested in telling stories in new ways. Disney will soon introduce an experience previewed in a clip shown at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference last June that lets consumers interact with Marvel Studios' animated anthology series. If?
Read: Apple Vision Pro lacks consumer buzz
The device also opens up new ways to experience live sporting events and theme park rides, Laberge said.
“This is a great representation of what we do best: bringing our characters and stories into the real world and bringing you closer to the people you care about,” Voris said.
It's unclear whether late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had mixed-reality devices in mind when he confided to biographer Walter Isaacson that he had “finally cracked it” in developing the next generation of televisions. isn't it. But to analysts like Creative Strategies' Ben Bajarin, Vision Pro seemed to have fulfilled that long-ago promise.
“I don't know if this is what Mr. Jobs meant when he said, 'I cracked television,'” Bajarin said. “But the platform element is what makes it more interesting than launching a TV. It can be more productive. It can be social… than if it's just a TV. It could be a much bigger deal and a much bigger opportunity.”
Admittedly, the expensive Vision Pro isn't going to be an instant bestseller. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi said in a note to investors that Apple has told its supply chain to produce no more than 1 million units, but even then Apple has He said the company may be preparing excess production capacity in advance of demand.
Apple's approach “suggests a lack of confidence that consumers will be forced to buy immediately without having to be convinced by an in-store demo,” Sacconaghi wrote.
But for business buyers, higher prices are less of a barrier.
Read: Samsung and Google prepare to take on Apple's Vision Pro
Jay Wright, CEO of Campfire, a startup that develops software for remotely collaborating on 3D files, such as engine designs, using headsets, said the original Mac computer in 1984 cost He pointed out that it was the equivalent of nearly $7,500 today. But small businesses flocked to Macs that could create and print documents and brochures.
“It's important to realize that this is not a consumer accessory device like the Apple Watch. This is an entirely new computing platform,” Wright said. “I think this is more like what will come after the Mac than what will come after the iPhone.” — Stephen Nellis and Dawn Chmielewski, (c) 2024 Reuters