Apple's Vision Pro - Solution looking for a problem?

Last week, Apple's CEO Tim Cook announced a new product called Vision Pro, a pair of sleek glass goggles at a hefty price of $3500 to be available next year. He said that the Vision Pro represents "an entirely new spatial-computing platform", comparing its launch to that of the Macintosh and the iPhone.?The entire presentation was somewhat underwhelming, as no one could figure out how it could be used and for what. Is this a classic case of a "solution looking for a problem"? Let us not be too hasty in drawing that conclusion.

Apple’s message is clear: after desktop and mobile computing, the?next big tech era?will be spatial computing—also known as augmented reality—in which computer graphics are overlaid on the world around the user. The Economist wrote, "The Vision is stuffed with innovations that eclipse every other headset on the market. Clunky joysticks are out, hand gestures and eyeball tracking are in. Instead of legless avatars, users get photorealistic likenesses, whose eyes also appear on the outside of the glasses to make wearing them less antisocial. The product is dusted with Apple’s user-friendly design magic". Apple has been working on this technology for years and has filed 5000 patents! They called it “the most ambitious product we’ve ever created”.

But what will be the user applications? - Apple’s vision mainly seemed to involve taking 2D?apps and projecting them onto virtual screens: see bigger photos, use Facetime calls on a friend's window instead of on the palm, virtual team meetings in 3D, etc. Paying $3500 to do just that seems silly.

Let us go back and see how the iPhone started 16 years ago. Initially the price charged in 2007 was a hefty $499 and the usage was somewhat dull - make calls, write emails, browse the web, and listen to music. Over the years when developers started writing killer apps on iPhone, the scene changed dramatically: group chat, ride hailing, short videos, casual gaming, mobile payment and much more. Users did not mind paying $1000 to have access to such killer apps on a daily basis.

Other platforms have taken just as long to reach their potential. Television producers began by filming people appearing on stage. Internet pioneers started off by sharing files, before spinning the web and much more. Apple’s own smartwatch was a damp squib until consumers decided that it was a health and fitness device. It now sells 50m watches a year.

So the play on Vision Pro is much bigger than just a pair of glass goggles. Once Apple releases the API to developers, many new apps will appear and make this device (or platform) a compelling one for users. It could be commercial (surgeons, engineers and architects have dabbled in the tech) or educational (Apple previewed a “planetarium” in its demo) or in entertainment (Disney made a cameo with ideas for immersive cinema and sports coverage). The possibilities could be endless!

The Economist rightfully said, "The flawed but extraordinary Vision Pro shows that the technological struggle to make spatial computing a reality is being won. The next race is to discover what it is for. Apple has just fired the starting gun".

This product will be geared more to developers initially.