I think at the moment it lacks a lot of use cases, but even in this first generation, the movie watching experience is astonishing. The 3D IMax size screen in your own space is quite incredible to see. As a first generation product it is quite something, but it is clear to me that this is where the future is. Apple will get it to the point where it delivers a must-have experience IMO, and of course the price will come down.
Wearables are hit or miss. We are almost a decade into smart watches and only 12% of Americans wear a smart watch or a fitness tracker. Note that this includes less advanced hardware than devices in the same category of Apple Watch. In terms of adoption that number has peaked.
For context: I visited this when it opened, some 30+ years ago. Despite wild advances in gaming, graphics, and tech portability, I still feel like VR hasn’t kept pace, and hasn’t managed to connect successfully with consumers.
www.chicagotribune.com
Maybe a great solo experience, but like 3D TVs, requiring powered viewing devices (3D glasses/goggles) does not make for a particularly pleasing group activity. It seems to me that AR, at least as currently presented, is, possibly inadvertently, isolating and asocial. Personally, I enjoy VR (sort of, I haven't used my Quest in over a year) but see no appeal in AR. It's solving a problem that doesn't really exist. I'm sure it's neat, but when Apple stores are selling a handful a week after the initial big release, I'd hedge my bets. Many people saw crypto, NFTs, and the metaverse as the absolute future and that died pretty quickly. I kinda prefer real life without the clutter of AR. But then, I'm not a huge user of my phone, either. And you have to know they're going to plaster your AR view with ads eventually. No thanks.
I think it will very quickly become a very social experience. The possilbity of watching movies with people you know whether they are in the same room as you or across the world is very real. Vision Pro already has personas, which are very realistic animated versions of the user, which will very likely to be used in these scenarios.
I've never made a video call except for work reasons and now I have tape over the camera on my work computer. Absolutely don't see the appeal of FaceTime, so that may be another reason I don't care. And it's not really their face if they're on Vision Pro, right? A scanned face with generated animation, isn't it?
Yes its an animation, but it will get to the point fairly soon where it is indistinguishable from a camera view of the real face.
Absolutely. Be it with my mum from Hong Kong Disneyland, or every single weekend with my dad. The future has arrived
I'm gonna guess it's partly a generational thing, then. I'm Gen X and I work in tech. Gimme computers, tablets, phones. AR? By the time it's "indispensable," I'll be all too dispensable. And I'm fine with that. I'm already well into the "no figs left to give" stage of my life.
I think this technology spans generations. I'm Gen X, and having used it, I can see its going to be a huge deal in the future.
I guess I'm more skeptical of technology under the current profit motivations. COULD it be used to make life better? Yeah. But mostly it will be used to make money. The internet itself is going to pot due to the terrible economics of tech companies. You WILL be seeing ads in everything. They WILL make you give over all your data to get any use and STILL charge money for the privilege. Unless there is some sort of economic revolution, I'm highly dubious of anything new coming from major tech companies. Maybe Apple less than Google or Meta or Microsoft, but not by much. There is a term coined by Cory Doctorow on how technology is being actively ruined by economic drivers which I will not use here, but I'm too jaded to look forward to any innovations without reservation at this point. I envy your optimism but I feel it's misplaced.
I agree that Amazon and Google will advertise the heck out of it, but Apple does not. They really have no history of doing that on any of their devices/services, and they are very serious about privacy. I do not see that changing. Apple seem to be happy to make money from hardware and services, more so than ads.
I really don't think those that have not used it realize quite how good the movie experience is. It delivers the black levels of a top end OLED TV, with the screen size of IMAX. All in a device that costs $3500. Aside from the fact that it's a single user, home cinema companies supplying projectors, and even actual movie theaters should be very afraid. As soon as Apple brings the social aspect to the movie viewing, and gets the price down, it will be a killer app.
Yeah but who is watching movies by themselves ?
