Apple Vision Pro could change the way people consume content and work on their computers: Here’s why

Apple’s Vision Pro could disrupt the way people watch TV at home and use computers at work, potentially positioning the headphones as successors to traditional TVs and Macs.

The $3,500 headphones, which blend three-dimensional digital content with views of the outside world, hit the company’s U.S. brick-and-mortar stores on Friday. It entered a market filled with low-cost competitors such as Meta Platforms and HTC, which were mostly limited to the video game market and failed to find a large audience.

Apple has had mixed results in attracting developers. Netflix, one of the most popular consumer video apps, said late Friday that it would not develop new apps for the Vision Pro, although consumers can watch movies and TV series on the device’s web browser.

YouTube said in a Bloomberg report that it does not plan to launch new apps for the device, but consumers will be able to use the Safari web browser. YouTube could not be reached for comment. Music streaming service Spotify also has yet to develop an app for the product’s launch, according to people familiar with the matter.

The pricey device features custom computing chips and a difficult-to-manufacture display that rivals lack. Analysts who have tried the headset say these features could make the device a threat to nearly any large two-dimensional screen in the home or workplace.

Walt Disney has been quietly working with Apple for years to develop an app for the release of Vision Pro, the latest in a history of collaboration between the two companies.

“When we looked at this, it clearly provided a new canvas for us to tell stories in ways we’ve never done before,” said Aaron LaBerge, chief technology officer at Disney Entertainment. “So it was clear that we wanted to do something here. , as a way to expand yourself.”

The Disney+ app puts moviegoers into one of four environments so they can watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens sitting aboard a fictional X-34 land vehicle on the planet Tatooine, like a futuristic car theater, or watch Avengers: Endgame at Avengers Tower in downtown Manhattan. Audiences can also watch 42 Disney 3D movies, including box office blockbusters “Avatar: Waterfall,” “Black Panther” and “Inside Out.”

Filmmakers such as “The Lion King” director Jon Favreau and “Avatar”‘s James Cameron are interested in telling stories in new ways, Walt Disney Studios Chief Technology Officer Jamie Voorhees said. Disney will soon launch an experience that will allow consumers to interact with Marvel Studios’ animated anthology series “What If,” it said in a video shown at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference last June.

Laberge said the device also opens up new ways to experience live sporting events or theme park rides.

“It’s a great example of what we do best, which is bring our characters and stories into the real world and bring you closer to the people you care about,” Voorhees said.

The late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs revealed to biographer Walter Isaacson that “I finally cracked it” while developing the next generation of TVs, and it’s unclear whether a mixed reality device was what he had in mind. But to analysts like Creative Strategies’ Ben Bajarin, Vision Pro appears to be fulfilling the promise of long ago.

“I don’t know if that’s what Steve meant when he said, ‘I cracked television,'” Bajarin said. “But the platform element makes it more interesting than launching a TV. It can be productive. It can be social. … It could become a bigger deal and a bigger opportunity than just a TV.”

To be sure, the expensive Vision Pro won’t become a best-seller anytime soon. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi said in a note to investors that Apple has told its supply chain that it expects to produce just 1 million units, and even then, Apple could be preparing for a surplus ahead of consumer demand. production capacity.

Sacconaghi wrote that Apple’s approach “suggests a lack of confidence that consumers will feel compelled to buy immediately without being convinced by in-store demonstrations.”

But high prices are no barrier to enterprise buyers.

Jay Wright, CEO of Campfire, a startup that makes software for remotely collaborating on 3D files such as engine designs using headsets, noted that the original Mac computer in 1984 cost as much as it does today. Nearly $7,500. But small businesses flocked to Macs for their ability to 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 a completely new computing platform,” Wright said. “I think this is more of a post-Mac thing than a post-iPhone thing.”

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a Yonhap news agency feed – Reuters)