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Tim Cook’s “next big thing” that costs $3,499 has an inherently limited market, but that’s not the point
Viewed with the broader lens it deserves, however, Apple’s Vision Pro represents so much more – the dawn of an entirely new kind of transformational tech and mass market opportunity that Cook called “spatial computing.” Spatial computing is essentially the film “Minority Report” come to life, three-dimensional computing divorced from the confines of flat physical screens. And the Vision Pro is just a teaser of what is sure to come in the years ahead, as the product’s form factor shifts from today’s high-end, but still-claustrophobic, ski goggles to something more high fashion and lightweight — think Ralph Lauren glasses.
It will take years for this transition to happen, but Apple will ultimately get there. And when Cook and his Cupertino crew ultimately build it, we will absolutely, enthusiastically come to their three-dimensional, virtual “Field of Dreams.”
On Monday, I joined a small group of leading immersive tech, media and entertainment executives and experts picked by metaverse expert Bob Cooney (the P. T. Barnum of XR, in all the best ways) on a beach in Malibu to watch Apple’s much-anticipated launch event. The overall vibe was electric as it unfolded live. What began with a collective energy of anticipation ended with rabid congratulatory applause and excitement about what Apple had built.
Surveying the scene and still processing Tim Cook’s demo, Evan Helda, Amazon Web Services’ principal specialist of spatial computing, reflected on what we’d seen with a feeling of awe: “We just experienced a life-changing. seminal moment in tech history.”
Pierre-Stuart Rostain, head of partnerships at European VRDays Foundation, who had flown all the way from the Netherlands to attend, agreed: “It’s not a headset. It’s a spatial computer.” Those who missed that missed the point, he added.
Yes, the consensus among this crew of XR experts was that version 1 of the Apple Vision Pro is destined to attract a limited audience of early adopters, the faithful who will buy anything and everything with an Apple logo on it. Its $3,499 price point drew audible gasps even from this well-heeled, tech-savvy audience. CAA Chief Metaverse Officer Joanna Popper joked that the version 1 sticker shock was intentional “so that everyone has time to save their money” for versions 2, 3 and beyond.
Several others pointed out that gamers were almost an afterthought in Cook’s presentation. Long-time gaming expert Amy Allison, who also serves as a board member of Women In Games International, summed up the gaming community’s likely overall reaction: “I expected the least, and I got it.”
But serial tech entrepreneur Nanea Reeves, CEO of Tripp, a startup focused on creating immersive, mood-altering experiences, emphasized the real long-term opportunity at play here. “Spatial computing will be as big as mobile,” she said without hesitation. Ultimately, edge delivery, battery-free wearing, dynamic vision correction and an everyday glasses-like form factor will lead to that coveted mass adoption in her view.
It is exactly those kinds of transformational possibilities of that acronym soup of VR, AR and XR that caused Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to distance himself from his original creation’s toxic name and embrace the highly meta “Meta.” But even though Apple wasn’t first to market, it is the one virtually everyone at the Malibu gathering believes will eventually capture it.
That’s Apple’s MO after all. It’s usually not the first. But it’s typically the most successful in both execution and mass adoption. Case in point the iPhone — not the first smartphone — nor the iPod before it.
As we all left Cooney’s IRL event, an overall experience that also featured award-winning gourmet foods and wine tasting from Sonoma’s award-winning Halleck Vineyard, Amazon’s Helda summed up what it meant to those in attendance.
“Everyone here committed their careers to immersive — more or less 10 years of our careers,” he said. And Cook finally gave them the big payoff they were waiting for.
“Today we’ll call it spatial computing,” he told me. “And Apple nailed it.”
And yes, as Steve Jobs would have said: One more thing. What did it really mean that Bob Iger was there in Cupertino to share the stage with Cook?
Content brought Disney and Apple close once: After he sold Pixar to Disney, Jobs served on the company’s board until his death in 2011, after which Iger joined Apple’s board and stayed on it until 2019. Disney’s support was crucial when iTunes expanded into selling TV, and the companies have stayed close under Cook. Talk of an Apple-Disney combination only picked up after Iger returned to the CEO spot last year.
So sure, Disney content for spatial entertainment is nice. But relocating Disney corporate to Apple Park sounds even better. Now that’s thinking spatially.
For those of you interested in learning more, visit Peter’s firm Creative Media at creativemedia.biz and follow him on Twitter @pcsathy.
Tim Cook’s “next big thing” that costs $3,499 has an inherently limited market, but that’s not the point
Viewed with the broader lens it deserves, however, Apple’s Vision Pro represents so much more – the dawn of an entirely new kind of transformational tech and mass market opportunity that Cook called “spatial computing.” Spatial computing is essentially the film “Minority Report” come to life, three-dimensional computing divorced from the confines of flat physical screens. And the Vision Pro is just a teaser of what is sure to come in the years ahead, as the product’s form factor shifts from today’s high-end, but still-claustrophobic, ski goggles to something more high fashion and lightweight — think Ralph Lauren glasses.
It will take years for this transition to happen, but Apple will ultimately get there. And when Cook and his Cupertino crew ultimately build it, we will absolutely, enthusiastically come to their three-dimensional, virtual “Field of Dreams.”
On Monday, I joined a small group of leading immersive tech, media and entertainment executives and experts picked by metaverse expert Bob Cooney (the P. T. Barnum of XR, in all the best ways) on a beach in Malibu to watch Apple’s much-anticipated launch event. The overall vibe was electric as it unfolded live. What began with a collective energy of anticipation ended with rabid congratulatory applause and excitement about what Apple had built.
Surveying the scene and still processing Tim Cook’s demo, Evan Helda, Amazon Web Services’ principal specialist of spatial computing, reflected on what we’d seen with a feeling of awe: “We just experienced a life-changing. seminal moment in tech history.”
Pierre-Stuart Rostain, head of partnerships at European VRDays Foundation, who had flown all the way from the Netherlands to attend, agreed: “It’s not a headset. It’s a spatial computer.” Those who missed that missed the point, he added.
Yes, the consensus among this crew of XR experts was that version 1 of the Apple Vision Pro is destined to attract a limited audience of early adopters, the faithful who will buy anything and everything with an Apple logo on it. Its $3,499 price point drew audible gasps even from this well-heeled, tech-savvy audience. CAA Chief Metaverse Officer Joanna Popper joked that the version 1 sticker shock was intentional “so that everyone has time to save their money” for versions 2, 3 and beyond.
Several others pointed out that gamers were almost an afterthought in Cook’s presentation. Long-time gaming expert Amy Allison, who also serves as a board member of Women In Games International, summed up the gaming community’s likely overall reaction: “I expected the least, and I got it.”
But serial tech entrepreneur Nanea Reeves, CEO of Tripp, a startup focused on creating immersive, mood-altering experiences, emphasized the real long-term opportunity at play here. “Spatial computing will be as big as mobile,” she said without hesitation. Ultimately, edge delivery, battery-free wearing, dynamic vision correction and an everyday glasses-like form factor will lead to that coveted mass adoption in her view.
It is exactly those kinds of transformational possibilities of that acronym soup of VR, AR and XR that caused Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to distance himself from his original creation’s toxic name and embrace the highly meta “Meta.” But even though Apple wasn’t first to market, it is the one virtually everyone at the Malibu gathering believes will eventually capture it.
That’s Apple’s MO after all. It’s usually not the first. But it’s typically the most successful in both execution and mass adoption. Case in point the iPhone — not the first smartphone — nor the iPod before it.
As we all left Cooney’s IRL event, an overall experience that also featured award-winning gourmet foods and wine tasting from Sonoma’s award-winning Halleck Vineyard, Amazon’s Helda summed up what it meant to those in attendance.
“Everyone here committed their careers to immersive — more or less 10 years of our careers,” he said. And Cook finally gave them the big payoff they were waiting for.
“Today we’ll call it spatial computing,” he told me. “And Apple nailed it.”
And yes, as Steve Jobs would have said: One more thing. What did it really mean that Bob Iger was there in Cupertino to share the stage with Cook?
Content brought Disney and Apple close once: After he sold Pixar to Disney, Jobs served on the company’s board until his death in 2011, after which Iger joined Apple’s board and stayed on it until 2019. Disney’s support was crucial when iTunes expanded into selling TV, and the companies have stayed close under Cook. Talk of an Apple-Disney combination only picked up after Iger returned to the CEO spot last year.
So sure, Disney content for spatial entertainment is nice. But relocating Disney corporate to Apple Park sounds even better. Now that’s thinking spatially.
For those of you interested in learning more, visit Peter’s firm Creative Media at creativemedia.biz and follow him on Twitter @pcsathy.
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