"Today is the beginning of a new era for computing; just as the Mac introduced us to personal computing, and the iPhone introduced us to mobile computing, the Apple Vision Pro offers us spatial computing."

(Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, from WWDC 2023)

Usually, Apple often takes advantage of its annual developer event "WWDC" to announce updates to new operating systems for its devices, and does not announce completely new products, but this has changed at its annual event this year "WWDC 2023".

The event began as usual by announcing new updates to operating systems, such as the "iOS 17" system for iPhones, the "iPadOS 17" system for iPads, and some additions to the MacBook series, but Apple ended it by announcing the long-awaited and anticipated product for many years, the first new product line launched by Apple since announcing its smartwatch in 2014, which is the new "Vision Pro" augmented reality glasses. (1)

The company aims to introduce these "revolutionary" glasses to integrate reality with digital content, so it is called "mixed reality" glasses, in addition to changing the way the user interacts with this content. Apple presents its new glasses as a whole new computing platform that has nothing to do with a smartphone, PC or even a TV screen.

Apple "Vision Pro"

The company elaborated on the possibilities of the new glasses in the opening speech of the annual developer event; they are a bit like ski goggles, and when you wear them on your head you can navigate through the company's applications using only your eyes and hands, while voice commands allow effortless search.

The company also explained that the glasses will support many different recreational activities, such as watching movies and displaying your personal media in three dimensions, all this with surround sound and controlling the size of what is displayed in front of you, in addition to playing video games. In addition to entertainment, it can be used for work-related tasks as well, allowing you to use remote videoconferencing applications and programs such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Lightroom.

Another important feature is EyeSight, which shows others whether the user is immersed in trying something, or available to interact and talk to it. When the screen of the device becomes transparent from the outside, those around you can know that you are not using glasses now, while when it becomes dark it means that you are immersed in one of the different activities.

The glasses work with the "M2" processing chip produced by Apple, and also announced a special operating system for the glasses, the "VisionOS" system, which is designed specifically for spatial computing that includes augmented and virtual reality experiences. During the announcement of the glasses, Apple revealed several partnerships for its new glasses, the most important of which is the availability of the entertainment content streaming service "Disney+" within the new glasses applications starting from its first release. It is supposed to be available in the US market starting next year 2024, and then in the rest of the world, at a price of $ 3500,<>.

Tim Cook has always talked about the potential of augmented reality as a futuristic technology that brings the digital world experience to the real world, and how these devices will enter into everyday use for most people. (Reuters)

Apple has been working on developing hardware and software for augmented reality glasses since at least 2016, through a department known as the "Technology Development Group", and the announcement of the new glasses is the culmination of years of development and research in this field. (2) Tim Cook, CEO of the company, has always talked about the potential of augmented reality as a futuristic technology, transferring the experience of the digital world to the real world, and how these devices will enter the daily use of most people, and perhaps their impact will be similar to the invention of the Internet one day.

But this field, and the virtual reality glasses market itself, has been stagnant for years (3), and there are several experiments of major companies that have already failed, so can Apple's glasses succeed where others have failed? Or could Apple actually start an era of spatial computing, as Tim Cook mentioned?

Will it work?

Since the beginning of the idea of developing these glasses, several reports of problems, disputes and internal changes have appeared in Apple, and indicated that manufacturing the device in this way was not easy and required many concessions, and the process of developing and producing it took years longer than the company expected. (4) At this fabulous price, the company itself expects slower sales in the short term.

Meta Quest 2 glasses with a strap on the top mounts on the head (left) and on the right the Meta Quest Pro glasses without strap. (Meta)

But there are some more important questions that the company will need to answer in this context: First, the most important question, of course, how will the user feel while wearing glasses? With no strap on top to attach to the head, like a Meta Quest, will it carry its full weight on the nose? Will it be comfortable in this mode? Then there's the wire that connects to the battery, will it be annoying during use? Will the glasses heat up after a few minutes of use like any computer with a processor?

Then what will it look like from the inside as you wear it? Apple tried to market the new glasses by talking about how it can replace your TV or computer screen, but doing this well and convincingly in a device you wear on your face will require a tremendous amount of processing power and image clarity.

And of course there is a legitimate question from the average user: what is its use for me? For example, when Apple first announced its smartwatch, in 2014, (5) there was an emerging market with rapid growth, whose sales reached $ 1.5 billion, with expectations of increasing in the future, (6) before Apple itself dominated this market globally in the following years. (7) But now, until now, there is no large market for virtual or augmented reality devices, except for some currently famous examples such as the "Meta Quest" glasses, and a set of successful prototypes such as Microsoft's "HoloLens" that stopped after that, so that most users have no idea how these devices work in the first place, and no one seems to care about this. Perhaps to try to find this market, or to find real uses, Apple tried to review partnerships with other digital services, such as Disney+ and others.

But there are some optimistic voices about the launch of this product because it is from Apple specifically, and that it may be more successful than previous attempts.

Optimistic outlook

This optimistic view revolves around the fact that Apple rarely creates a new product out of nowhere, but in return it takes existing ideas and improves them in innovative ways to make them more attractive to consumers. (AFP)

In October 2021, the world's attention began to turn to the virtual reality (VR) industry and devices, because Mark Zuckerberg decided to rename his company from "Facebook" to "Meta", after the start of a new industry for technology, the metaverse. The industry is supposed to rely entirely on these huge headglasses, in order to provide an immersive digital experience as Mark promised us then. But as we have seen over the past period, the metaverse dream almost collapsed, and a new dream, artificial intelligence and chatGPT, appeared to draw the world's attention, and therefore the sales of these glasses did not move anywhere.

But some Bank of America analysts believe that "despite these current problems, and despite the fading metaverse, we must remember that Apple is inventing entirely new classes of technical devices that have the potential to change existing markets and create completely new ones." (8)

In fact, this is not the opinion of Bank of America alone, as many people in the technology industry believe that Apple's announcement of its new glasses will excite consumers, software developers, and bring this technology closer to the promise imagined by Tim Cook, that it will be the device that we wear and use daily in various activities of our day, an alternative to the smartphone.

Apple used the strength of its brand, along with its huge marketing budget, to explain to consumers why they need its latest devices, as if the consumer is the one who will miss it. (Reuters)

This optimistic view revolves around the fact that Apple rarely creates a new product out of nowhere, but in return it takes existing ideas and improves them in innovative ways to make them more attractive to consumers. For example, before the launch of its most popular iPod music device two decades ago, the market was full of many similar devices, and before the launch of the first iPhone, there were BlackBerry, and it was like a small computer in your pocket at the time.

Historically, Apple has used the power of its enormous consumer brand, along with its huge marketing budget, to explain to consumers why they need its latest devices, as if the consumer is the one who will miss it if he does not use this or that device.

Overall, the world of virtual or augmented reality glasses technology certainly does not have clear use cases and is not attractive to the wider segments of potential consumers yet, and most of those working in the field spend a lot of their time trying to explain the differences between augmented, virtual and mixed reality, rather than trying to sell the product itself. But here is the challenge for Apple, if the company can demystify the entire industry for the general public, and certainly reduce its price in the future, it may end up becoming the first company to sell those glasses to the user who really understands what he is buying.

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Sources:

  • 1) Introducing Apple Vision Pro: Apple's first spatial computer
  • 2) Apple just announced its first major product since 2014: The Vision Pro for $3,499
  • 3) Examining the Gartner Hype Cycle for VR Technology
  • 4) At Apple, Rare Dissent Over a New Product: Interactive Goggles
  • 5) Apple Unveils Apple Watch—Apple's Most Personal Device Ever
  • 6) Global smartwatch market companies' market share in 2014
  • (7) Apple Several Ticks Ahead in the Smartwatch Market
  • 8) Why Apple's VR headset could succeed where every similar product has failed