The Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional blended actuality headset has had one thing of a tough experience since its launch. Whereas the engineering concerned is spectacular, the $3,499 price ticket together with some early adopter woes appears to have taken a few of the shine off of a tool that Apple CEO Tim Prepare dinner described as “the start of a brand new period for computing”.
Apple’s most up-to-date earnings name makes slim point out of the headset, as an alternative focussing on total income, a good bit of AI and machine-learning doublespeak, and gross sales of iPads, Macbooks and iPhones. Nonetheless, we did glean just a little tidbit of data from Tim Prepare dinner’s introductory remarks, as he revealed that “greater than half of the Fortune 100 corporations have already purchased Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional items, and are exploring progressive methods to make use of it to do issues that weren’t doable earlier than”, earlier than shifting on to different matters.
The reveal that a few of the world’s top-performing corporations purchased no less than one of many new headsets is not shocking, given {that a} substantial variety of them are tech {industry} or tech industry-adjacent companies that seemingly wished a search for themselves at Apple’s newest doohickey.
In any case, given Apple’s place because the top-performing expertise firm within the 2023 listing, any huge launch in a brand new section of the market was seemingly price a punt, notably as Apple went huge on the gross sales pitch, calling the Imaginative and prescient Professional “a revolutionary spatial laptop that seamlessly blends digital content material with the bodily world whereas permitting customers to remain current and linked to others”.
Whereas some corporations could have determined to select up a number of for testing, relating to Imaginative and prescient Professional gross sales total, issues do not look fully rosy. Latest reviews have recommended that Apple had slashed manufacturing volumes in half earlier than the headset even went on sale outdoors of US markets, which means that US demand was a lot decrease than anticipated.
Whereas the astronomical price ticket is more likely to be a limiting issue as to how many individuals can afford one, it is not just like the Imaginative and prescient Professional garnered fully constructive evaluations. Many identified the weight and hulking nature of the machine, whereas others skilled inconsistent characteristic implementation and emotions of isolation.
Whereas any “revolutionary” new product launch is more likely to have some teething points, Apple’s seeming reluctance to debate gross sales income concerning the Imaginative and prescient Professional is telling. It does not look like it has been a house run up to now for gross sales of the VR/AR headset even when some corporations purchased in on a number of items, though time will inform if this finally ends up being a sluggish early adoption difficulty, or doubtlessly the brand new USB “Hockey Puck Mouse” of unloved Apple gadgets.
