This is a glimpse of the future: personalized mobile is evolving into spatial computing.
Welcome to the next era of computing with the revelation of the Vision Pro, the highly anticipated product slated to hit stores at the beginning of next year. Uniquely crafted by Apple, this headgear symbolizes the tech giant's bold imagination of our intimate computing future. This next evolutionary step brings computing closer to our natural senses and it will shape new customer experiences.
Computing inputs generate massive data (safely).
The device is designed with subtle but powerful technology breakthroughs everywhere. The headset is brimming with 12 cameras, five sensors, and half a dozen microphones working together to monitor your hand motions. Then Apple takes it up a notch with its high-speed cameras and a halo of LEDs illuminating your eyes, intuitively decoding your gaze. This provides a tremendous amount of data that can personalize the experience (hello, individualized ecommerce) and accommodate iterative learning. At the same time, Apple's privacy protections are expected to deliver protection of sensitive spatial data on the device.
Social acceptance and signaling are key.
One recurring theme in Apple’s announcement: the level of eye connectivity needed to realistically engage with the environment around you. The fourth or fifth mention started to sound like a jab to Meta and Mark Zuckerberg – underlining the stark contrast between the isolated experience of Oculus VR vs Apple’s signature cool factor.
Apple products have always been a flex, signaling prestigious taste when you’re sporting the newest device. But for Apple’s core audience, most VR headsets give more of a Cyclops vibe than sex appeal. To deliver a feeling of connection and presence, this device builds a sense of visibility between you and your environment. The inventive "EyeSight" feature maintains awareness of others in your vicinity. When someone comes close to a Vision Pro user, the headset integrates them into the user's visual sphere. Simultaneously, it generates a digital representation of the user's eyes, adding a fascinating touch of virtual realism. I can’t wait to see whether the experience delivers on Apple’s slick storytelling.
Entertainment is the entry point.
The Vision Pro introduction placed a heavy emphasis on the immersive screens, returning to the depth, dimensions, and even shadows to outline the entertainment value. This seemed to position the device as an immersive extension of Apple TV – with plenty of nods to Ted Lasso along the way. But then, the magical moment arrived. Bob Iger, Disney's chief, jumped up onto the WWDC stage, illustrating how Disney plans to infuse this device with its rich entertainment.
The Vision Pro promises to transform our movie and TV watching into an immersive, larger-than-life experience. With the virtual screen you can now watch a movie in outer space or immerse yourself in a deep-sea adventure. Sports viewing experiences could evolve, offering you the power to control the camera view for your own unique angle of the game.
Visual content drives the Vision Pro.
Vision Pro leverages visual language to deliver rich creative expression. Emojis have become second nature, not only in our culture but in our language, providing emotional expression within text. Vision Pro incorporates 2D images to be used as stickers to accentuate further communication. One product feature got my attention: an object can be pulled out of chat and viewed spatially in 3 dimensions. In a spatial setting, it is apparent that 3D objects and products will pave a path for AR commerce. With room sensors and voice search in the mix, we are very close to having digital representations of shoppable products on demand, anywhere we are, personalized to us.
With this Vision Pro announcement, Apple set out a compelling vision for the future of entertainment and shoppable experiences. So, welcome to the Vision Pro, we’ve been waiting for you.
