I get the feeling that Apple is working on a native version of Maps for the Vision Pro that could come in visionOS 1.1 or 2.0 and that should prove the point of the headset utility. Not a killer app but something that only Apple can do1. The look around feature could feel like magic. Landmarks in 3D on the Vision Pro could prove to be spectacular, too. Imagine a drive-thru experidnce with this2! Man, I can’t wait to see what’s next for visionOS3.

  1. I’m not counting on Google to do that. ↩︎

  2. Without actually driving a car, of course. ↩︎

  3. John Gruber keeps writing “Vision OS” and I hate that. ↩︎

A Powerful Ecosystem of Tech

When I look at the Apple Vision Pro, I see a device with many software and hardware technologies that Apple took years to create, develop and refine. They did it in plain sight with the iPhone, the iPad and the Mac. Each of these devices played a significant role as a test bed for what would come next, a portion of what we can find in the Vision Pro. I can see many examples: windows management introduced on the iPad via the Stage Manager paved the way for window management on the Vision Pro, Three-dimensional and object placement in an augmented reality view in the Apple Store app when placing a virtual Mac on a physical desk, LiDAR Scanner with FaceID paved the way to Personas, continuity on all Apple OSes, and so much more set the playground for a robust ecosystem that takes all its meaning in the Vision Pro. And there are probably hundreds of more technologies that I cannot see. I guess the Apple Vision Pro was in development for a decade at Apple, and with each new feature Apple put into their devices, the headset benefitted from it.

I'm Sorry but Apple Vision Pro Is Another VR Headset, or Is It?

Of all people who reviewed or are now active users of the Apple Vision Pro, some are mentioning, rightfully, that this is not about AR1 but 95% about VR2. Apple doesn’t want to admit it, but this is a VR headset. Why is that? Is is because it is “easier”3 to recreate something from the ground up (the virtual world enabled by visionOS) than taking the reality and adding meaningful and useful stuff to it? I see much more limited use case for augmented reality than for virtual reality. It might change in the future, now that people are now exposed to it through other people using the headset sharing their experience.

  1. Augmented Reality. ↩︎

  2. Virtual Reality. ↩︎

  3. It’s not an easy feat to do what visionOS is doing. ↩︎

I’ll probably buy an Apple Vision Pro when it arrives in Canada. My wife doesn’t know it. She will undoubtedly question my decision. She can be challenging at times. But I’ll go ahead anyway. We don’t have a home theatre by today’s standards. We never invested money into these technologies. But this time, it’s different. It’s a too important moment in technology to pass.

Basic Apple Guy writing about the Apple Vision Pro:

For now, Vision Pro remains a very exclusive playground for developers and enthusiasts, clay waiting to be moulded into something quite incredible for the future.

Craig Hockenberry writing about the Mac turning 40:

Apple Vision Pro is a technical marvel, but ultimately falls short in ways that satisfy the natural curiosity of developers.

Time will tell if a new generation of developers will find their way to be creative and think outside the box1. Otherwise, Apple will eventually have to try harder to think outside the box.

  1. Third level pun intended. ↩︎

Technologies At Play in a "Compact" Device

I have this thought right now as I’m watching the first reviews of the Apple Vision Pro: it is utterly fascinating to see all the basic technological elements (both hardware and software1) that are at play here and put together in this headset. Besides a product still looking for its use cases, I find this product to be the most ambitious one to be launched by Apple to date. Bravo for trying. And I’m pretty sure it’s only the beginning. You bet Apple is going to iterate on this for quite some time. I feel excited for this thing.

  1. Handoff, Continuity, Digital Crown, 3D modelling, etc. ↩︎