The Apple Vision Pro has been one of the most baffling Apple product launches in recent history. It is intended to serve as the beginning of an entirely new product category for Apple and, more importantly, the next generation of computing. And yet, for the company it seems like an afterthought.
With John Ternus, I have some hope that we can start to see the product reach its full potential, although there are also reasons to be skeptical.
Jack of all trades, master of none
Vision Pro does a lot of really interesting things, but none of them seem to be fully developed. Mac Virtual Display is amazing, but the headphones are too heavy to make you comfortable enough to wear them for a long time. Watching movies and shows is great, but many streaming platforms don’t have native Vision Pro apps and Apple hasn’t tried to incentivize developers in any other way. Multitasking can be really productive, but typing is still a pain and dictation is way behind.
I could go on for a while. I have yet to write much about this, but I ended up purchasing a used Vision Pro about 6 months ago, a little after the M5 model dropped, and although I bought it for a good price, I still don’t feel very attracted to the product. Ultimately, no matter what, it’s still uncomfortable and the compromises don’t leave me wanting to use it for long.
Some of the problems with Vision Pro are hardware, but many of them are just a matter of developing the software and giving it more different use cases. With strong leadership and enough care, I think Apple could get there.
The elephant(s) in the room
I think it’s pretty clear that Vision Pro is where it is because of a lack of conviction. Tim Cook has always been a firm believer in augmented reality, but the problem is that Vision Pro is just a stepping stone towards it. It is believed that Tim Cook was not always a product person, and usually shied away It prevented him from making singular decisions and instead left them in the hands of the executives around him. In the end, many executives, including John Ternus, doubted the Vision Pro from the start, at least in a heavy $3,500 headset form factor. That’s probably why everything about the Vision Pro seems so uncooked and half-hearted.
John Ternus was supposedly opposite to Vision Pro from the beginning, which is the second elephant in the room. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. It could simply mean that you want to take the platform in a better direction. Ultimately, it’s hard to know for sure why he opposed Vision Pro in the first place, since the report doesn’t specify.
What we do know is the fact that John Ternus is optimistic for the future of Vision Pro, describing the current product as “in the early stages” and stating that there is plenty of room for the product to grow.
Wrap
I wouldn’t expect any quick changes anytime soon. Ultimately, John Ternus doesn’t become CEO until September and visionOS 27 is already underway. Apple’s cheaper and lighter Vision Air headphones are also reported to be shelved.
If there is going to be a Vision Pro revival under John Ternus, it likely won’t be until at least 2028. I really hope he gives the product the love and care it needs, though, because I think there’s a lot of potential if the product were good enough (and attainable) for a lot of people to own one.
Sharing experiences with friends and family who don’t live near you is an amazing premise, but it doesn’t really matter if you don’t know anyone who has a Vision headset, and that can’t change without strong leadership.
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