Vision Pro Launch Day

I’d like to imagine that if I was writing about the iPhone on June 6, 2007, I would say something truly prescient, like: The iPhone that will launch tomorrow will change the way you get a taxi, order food, book a hotel, take a video, and pay your bills.

In reality, that summer I picked up a phone purchased by the company I worked at - a phone case manufacturer (among other things) - and smirked at how difficult it was to type on and wondered why anyone would want one over my - checks notes - T-Mobile Dash.

Anyway, as I write this on the eve of the launch of Vision Pro, I’ll aim to be less wrong.

1) NBA Vision Pro App Leads The Way

It’s clear from the initial reviews that entertainment consumption will be the primary initial use case for Vision Pro.

This will change, of course - remember, the initial use case for the iPad was for “touching” the Internet and reading books - as the true killer app is likely being cooked up by some developer consulting with three AI copilots concurrently from a windowless first floor apartment in Malaysia or Singapore.

But for now, it will be movies and sports that present the most compelling case for a $3,500+ purchase. The NBA, naturally, is already well ahead of the curve with its native VP app:

A good 75-inch TV runs $3,000 or more. In these screenshots, the Vision Pro is showing the equivalent of, what, idk, 105 inches of TV, with 5 live games, an iMessage window, a few stats and a partridge in a pear tree? Not bad!

My take: This is a 1.0 use case, too. Developers often first try to graft old paradigms onto a new device. A good example of this would be newspaper scans on websites giving way to not only dynamic formatting, but also a change in the structure of storytelling. In this case:

Old Paradigm → 2D flat content in a rectangle

New Paradigm → Everything around, above, and under you

What happens when turning your head inserts you into a new arena? Or when Apple starts broadcasting Friday Night Baseball this summer in Apple Immersive Video?

A New Paradigm, that’s what.

2) Things App Comes To Vision Pro For Launch

Popular task manager Things will offer Vision Pro support on Day 1:

To-dos! To-dos everywhere!

3) Meta Will Support Apple’s Spatial Videos on Meta Quest

Meta announced it will support playback of Spatial videos shot on iPhone 15 (and presumably the Vision Pro) on its much less expensive Quest devices:

Kind of a weird end-around here. On one hand, Meta undercuts one of the selling features for Vision Pro, while simultaneously placing a tacit vote for Apple’s video format as a standard for 3D immersive videos.

Perhaps Apple will add support legless avatars.

4) Tim Cook Appears in the Most Apple Photo Ever

“You don’t put stuff on your head if you’re President” - Barack Obama, keenly aware of how goofy you look with almost anything on your head.

It became a thing over the past few weeks that Tim Cook had yet to be photographed wearing a VP. People presumed that it wasn’t because of the look, but rather that doing so would provide the lasting image sure to follow Cook to his grave if the VP eventually goes the way of the Newton.

E.g:

But Cook had a better reason (and a better outfit than a Macy’s suit): he was waiting for this meticulously planned, and surely embargoed and Apple PR approved, image on the cover of Vanity Fair.

Tim’s all in.

Good interview here.