Apple Announced the Vision Pro and I (As Always) Have Thoughts

I've never been that interested in Virtual Reality headsets. If we could make VR work like the Holodeck in Star Trek, I'd be down for that--although everyone would be annoying to listen too as they remarked, "Hey, this is just the Holodeck!" This resulted in me not caring about Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, PlayStation Vr, or Cyberview Express. I made that last one up, but if you're as disinterested in VR as I am, you probably didn't even realize it. This long-winded intro leads me to discuss how Apple announced the Vision Pro today, and I gave a disinterested sigh to all of it.

Apple makes great products, there is no question about that. I am sure their, "Facial computer," which costs a whopping $3,500 will be of the highest quality and work spectacularly. It sounds like it will have lots of bells and whistles. I just don't care and never have been big on the idea of strapping a headset to my nogging even if it lets me be further immersed in virtual worlds, bring up data sheets, or whatever. I've changed my mind on stuff before--I used to "Not get," the Nintendo Switch before digging it. That said, I just had to give the Switch a chance to learn to love it. I've sampled VR and never found it especially appealing. The technology has its proponents, but lots of folk seem unsure about it. The comment section on Kotaku had folks remarking the fact this is an Apple product means it probably won't be able to do any PC games and it'll be walled in for just Apple games, products, and so forth. Some other people said the quiet part out loud about how this might really appeal to viewers of pornography--but that's always been a hush-hush aspect of VR--the big companies prefer it not be openly discussed even though I'd imagine that has at times helped spur a number of sales.

I imagine people with deep pockets who adore Apple and its products will eat this up. Massive corporations might give it a try to see how it helps optimize productivity (or other buzzwords). Will this have mainstream, appeal, however? I honestly cannot say as who knew the iPhone would become as massive as it did? Then again, the iPhone now can be had with various deals you cut via your phone provider for a more reasonable price. Apple's Watch is pretty popular too and I was unsure how it would do. Basically, I'm saying I know better than to ever bet against Apple (rare flop like Newton aside) and if anyone is going to finally crack the VR space it'll be them. That said, I'm just as hesitant to bet on Apple in this case too. Once this thing is for sale in 2024 or so and regular folks--well, regular folks with money to burn--can try it out that'll be the real test.