🥽 My vision of Apple Vision Pro
To put it simply, I’m not a fan of VR. I find it an interesting gimmick and distraction. It’s the kind of hardware you buy to impress your friends, use a couple times when they come over, then stash it away. It has its purpose, but it’s limited in scope and depth.
My opinion changed when I saw Apple Vision Pro. I’m still not an advocate of VR, but I immediately saw a hundred uses for their spatial computing headset. I’ve seen VR demos before and never felt compelled by them. During WWDC 2023, I said, “Damn, that would be cool!” multiple times.
And I meant it. It wasn’t just spur of the moment excitement. As I read more about the device, I see those same possibilities. I may not be thinking of the target audience, at least not the current target audience.
What if you took the Apple Vision and put it in the hands of someone who doesn’t have the mobility they used to, whether that be age, injury, surgery, or other. This may be highly sentimental or blatant wishful thinking, but let’s play this out for a moment, because I think it’s a real world scenario and has merit.
What if you gave that person an Apple Vision Pro headset? They’re now able to experience a completely different world. Maybe they can’t travel to Rome, but now they can walk the streets of Rome, or France, or London. We’ve got Street View, so it’s the next step in the evolution.
Maybe they can’t get to the Louvre, or can’t walk the dozens of miles it takes to see the art and experience the history, but now they can. They can spend as much time as they like and experience all the art on their own terms and time frame.
What if someone who always wanted to visit Ireland was given the chance?
What if someone who always wanted to visit the slot canyons of Arizona or Utah was given the opportunity?
What if someone wanted to see a broadway show in New York, just once?
That’s pretty exciting.
What if the kids and grandkids are a thousand miles away? What would happen if, while out on a walk in a park, mom or dad put an iPhone around their neck, turned on FaceTime, and beamed that walk to the grandparents? What if they could walk along and experience that moment with a sense of realism?
What would it be like for that grandparent to see, hear, talk, and be apart of that walk with their kids and grandkids? They would walk along and experience things as though they were right there.
That would be an amazing experience.
And what it would be like for someone recovering from a serious injury to look beyond the four walls of their room? What would it be like mentally to take a virtual stroll through the mountains, watch dogs play in a park, virtually ride a bicycle, or sit in the stands of a game? Sure, the body is lying in a bed, healing, but the mind is still active, alert, and full of vitality.
That sort of healing process seems extremely beneficial.
Is Apple Vision Pro offering all that? I don’t know, perhaps not. At least not yet. But, the possibility seems feasible and tangible.
The VR experiences from Google, Steam, Meta, and others are interesting, but they never came across as engaging, let alone inspiring. They were meant for games, or some gimmicky way to charge you for a service.
Apple Vision is the first VR experience that makes me wonder. It makes me wonder about the possibilities. It doesn’t come across as a gimmick, or a toy. It comes across as useful device with real, and practical applications.
I’m not interested in one for myself, again, not yet. But, I can absolutely see where it would be useful, and beneficial. And maybe in two years I’ll be virtually sitting on the beach under a palm tree watching the waves roll in. I could go for that.
My ideas may be nothing more than pipe dreams, and may never come to fruition, but Vision is the first time I’ve thought those ideas were actually possible and plausible.
Apple Vision isn’t even available yet, not yet a 1.0 product. But, think of what Apple has made real, the advances they’ve already made. What will Apple Vision be like in 5 years, or even 2 years? What will be possible with the M3, and M4 iterations of the headset?
That’s the point. Up until Apple Vision, I’ve ignored VR. I’d listen to how some game is progressing, but I’m not interested. Interesting toy, you can keep that.
But, now I’m really interested in what’s possible. And it seems like a lot.
