Apple's Vision Pro Isn't Just a 'Headset' but the Next Tech Frontier

The following article was originally published June 7, 2023 on Fearless Media.

Apple at long last revealed its long-anticipated "next big thing" — its Vision Pro — two days ago at its annual WWDC. There is little need to repeat the hype here, since the Vision Pro's product features and specifications have been well covered elsewhere.

But lost amidst most coverage is the fact that the should not be considered simply a VR, AR or so-called mixed reality (XR) "headset." Tim Cook, in fact, nowhere used those words in his drop-the-mic presentation.

Even focused with such a limited narrow lens, the Vision Pro represents a beyond impressive package of technology, the likes of which the world has never seen (Apple says it filed over 5,000 patents in connection with its development).

But that kind of myopic view likely leads to disappointment and a conclusion that Apple's market opportunity, especially with its $3,500 price tag, is limited — a niche product meant only for the few.

Viewed with the broader lens it deserves, however, Apple's Vision Pro represents so much more. It represents the dawn of an entirely new mass market and transformational tech opportunity of so-called "spatial computing."

Spatial computing is essentially the film "Minority Report" come to life, three-dimensional computing divorced from the confines of physical screens. And the Vision Pro is just the teaser of what is sure to come in the years ahead, as the product's form factor shifts from one that is less today's high end and still claustrophobic "ski goggles," to more tomorrow's everyday high fashion Ralph Lauren glasses.

It will take years for this transition to happen, but Apple will ultimately get there and be the first to do so. And when it does and ultimately builds it, we will absolutely enthusiastically come. This version 1 is simply the entry point into Apple's three-dimensional, virtual "Field of Dreams."

On Monday, I joined a small group of leading immersive tech and tech-forward media and entertainment executives and experts on the beaches of Malibu to watch Apple's much-anticipated launch event as it unfolded live.

Invited by top immersive and metaverse expert Bob Cooney (XR's resident PT Barnum, in all the best ways), the overall vibe was electric. What began with a collective high energy of anticipation, ended with a combination of congratulatory applause and excitement about what Apple had built.

Perhaps Evan Helda, Amazon AWS's Principal Specialist of Spatial Computing, said it best. Surveying the overall scene and still processing Tim Cook's demonstration as it ended, he reflected 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" — and those who missed that, missed the point.

The consensus amongst this crew of media and entertainment XR experts was that Apple Vision Pro version 1 is destined to attract only a limited audience of early adopters — the Apple faithful who will buy anything and everything with an Apple logo on it. Its $3,500 price point, in fact, drew audible gasps even from this well-heeled tech-savvy audience. CAA's Chief Metaverse Officer Joanna Popper reacted to it lightheartedly, telling me "so everyone has time to save their money" for versions 2, 3 and beyond (while also hilariously quipping that "if it's not $3,000, it doesn't touch my face").

Several others also pointed out that gamers were almost an after-thought 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 successful 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.

And although Apple may not be the first to have immersed itself into the space previously known by acronyms VR, AR and XR — the transformational possibilities of which caused Mark Zuckerberg to distance himself from Facebook's toxic name and embrace the highly meta "Meta" — most here believe Apple is the one to eventually capture it.

That's Apple's M.O. 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 to mention the iPod before it.

As we all left Cooney's "in real life" (IRL) event, the collective feeling was best reflected in the words of Amazon's Helda. Reflecting on the significance of Apple's announcement, he emphasized what it personally meant to those in attendance. "Everyone here commit their careers to immersive. More or less 10 years of our careers." And Tim Cook finally gave them the big pay-off they were waiting for. From this point forward, we won't call what Apple created "VR" or "mixed reality." "Today we'll call it spatial computing," he tells me. "And Apple nailed it."

But, as Steve Jobs would have said, Cook had "one more thing" up his sleeve. Disney CEO Bob Iger shared the stage with him, ostensibly to showcase Disney content on Apple's new 3-D screen.

Content brought Disney and Apple close in the first place years ago after all. Steve Jobs sold Pixar to Disney, and Jobs served on the company's board until his death in 2011. Iger himself joined Apple's board and stayed on it until 2019.

And let's not forget that talk of an Apple-Disney combination picked up after Iger returned to the CEO spot last year. I predicted the very real possibility of an eventual Apple buyout of the Mouse House myself in a galaxy far, far away.

So sure, Disney content for spatial entertainment is nice. But a Disney-fied Apple sounds even better.

Now that's thinking spatially.

Peter Csathy is the founder and chairman of Creativie Media and an internationally recognized media, entertainment, and tech expert. Read more in his Substack newsletter, Fearless Media.