Wither Apple Vision Pro?
Six months ago today I thought this technology would change everything
To hear the related 5-minute audio file that I uploaded today as my Morning Journal flash briefing for Alexa devices, please click on the play button:
How come I never use this thing?
I picked up my Vision Pro six months ago today at the Apple Store in Coconut Point, Estero, FL.
The technology struck me as amazing, especially the bit where you look at an icon and tap your fingers together in order to activate it. The resolution was awesome, and it worked flawlessly with my other Apple devices.
In March, I took it to South By Southwest in Austin, where I thought I would see at least a few other early adopters wearing VP headsets. That didn’t turn out to be the case. But I still left SxSW confident that Vision Pro was going to be a thing.
Six months later, I realize I have used the headset just a handful of times in the past three or four months. Earlier this week, I watched the start of Napoleon, the Apple TV original movie. It looked great—a big screen floating in the bedroom of the cottage here in Maine.
The main reason I have not used Vision Pro much is that it feels heavy on my head and hot on my face. Also, it isolates me from other people. It’s a completely solitary experience.
In the early days, I enjoyed giving Vision Pro demos to friends and family. They loved the wow of it, but it was a hassle to get them logged in as guests and calibrated with the controls.
I enjoyed watching a Vision Pro movie on the plane back to Florida from South By. But I doubt I will take it with me in a couple of weeks when we fly to Nice, France, for a visit to Provence. I am sure there will be lots of media to consume in my seat on the American flight. I will have my iPad Air and Magic Keyboard for surfing the web and writing.
At this point, honestly, the main appeal of using Vision Pro in public is to be seen as someone who’s wearing Vision Pro in public. That was a bigger deal six months ago than it is now.
I won’t be selling my headset on eBay any time soon. I know Apple keeps improving the operating system, and there may yet be a killer app that returns me to more frequent use.
What I will take to France is a little gadget I almost canceled my order for, because it was set to arrive soon after Vision Pro launched. I didn’t think I would have time or enough interest to get competent with Humane’s AI Pin.
But despite the awful early reviews, AI Pin is now my favorite tech helper. I will update my T-Mobile service to international status, so it will work anywhere in France. My French is passable, but AI Pin will be a big help with its instant translation feature.
Excitement about new technology is fun. But the proof is in the use of things.
In that department, AI Pin wins.