When Apple introduced its AR Kit software at WWDC in 2017, I had a chance to talk to Apple CEO Tim Cook after the morning keynote at a private event later that afternoon. I asked him about his thoughts on AR, and he shared that he believed AR technology could be one of Apple’s most important products someday. He also confirmed that the company was committed to delivering a powerful AR experience in the future.
So, when reports started coming out around 2021 that Apple was building VR-like googles, you can understand my confusion, given my previous talk with Tim Cook.
That is why Apple created the AR Kit and was getting a jump on building software for a new AR device that, when ready, would have hundreds if not thousands of apps available when it shipped. Tim Cook also told me that the AR device needed to be more like glasses: unobtrusive and acceptable for all.
Through my interactions with optical glass suppliers, battery manufacturers, wireless radio vendors, and others, I am aware of the need to streamline these products and perfect the technology necessary for immersive AR/MR experiences in eyeglass form. It becomes apparent that the development of advanced AR/MR eyeglasses is still a few years away, at the very least.
While the Vision Pro is not selling in huge numbers, mostly due to its $3500 price tag, it may not be the product that helps Apple bring AR/MR to the masses. But it is fulfilling an important role in the XR-spatial computing world.
We now know that Apple, which wants to play a significant role in creating a mixed-reality experience, instead decided to do a “moonshot” product first.
One big role is that it has put XR and spatial computing on the map of both business users and consumers. Millions of people have seen an XR-spatial computing future thanks to Apple giving free demos of the Vision Pro at Apple stores.
