The Apple Vision Pro remains the apex mixed-reality experience – and also the most unattainable for most people.
You won’t hear Apple directly admit that the powerful headset is, at $3,499, too expensive. A couple of years ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook called the Vision Pro “a great value”. A year later, though, he admitted that the pricey headset is not aimed at “the masses.”
We now have some evidence that Cook’s comment was on the, well, money.
During a recent Price is Right episode, contestants were presented with the Vision Pro and asked to guess the price. For those unfamiliar with the premise of the game show, the idea is to guess a price that is as close to the actual price as possible. Whoever gets nearest moves on to the next round of the game.
In the widely shared clip, the Vision Pro headset is lowered from the rafters to a position just in front of the contestants as the show’s announcer briefly describes the headset’s capabilities.
After a moment’s consideration, the four players guessed prices ranging from $750 to $1,250. That latter price won – but saying that the contestant who guessed that amount got close is like saying California is close to New York because they’re part of the same land mass.
What we learned is that consumers are not only unfamiliar with Vision Pro – they have no idea why anyone would pay $3,500 to own one. The price, according to those contestants, is wrong.
As much as I love the Vision Pro experience, I’ve known this for a while, but it wasn’t until I saw some news today that I believed Apple understood this and that it is, perhaps, trying to do something about it.
The price gives us Vertigo
The news came from a seemingly unlikely source: U2 front man Bono, whose new documentary, Bono: Stories of Surrender, is coming to Apple TV Plus. The rock star has a long-time friendly relationship with Apple; more than a decade ago, Apple dropped an entire new U2 album on iTunes, much to the chagrin of those who were not U2 fans.
Apple, though, is clearly not done putting U2 content inside Apple products. An immersive version of Stories of Surrender is also coming to the Vision Pro, putting you on stage with the musician.
I’ve used the Vision Pro, and I’ve tried these immersive experiences often enough to tell you that they’re extraordinary to the point of almost being uncomfortable; an artist or athlete is doing their thing, and it feels like you’re invading their space.
Bono details in the interview with Deadline the difficulties of filming in the immersive format, especially getting the lighting right. Then, in answer to a question about how the Vision Pro further personalized the story, Bono shared something I’m not sure Apple would want him to share:
It made it really playful. I know Apple are dying to make the Vision Pro more affordable and more democratic, but they’re committed to innovation, they’re committed to experimenting. They know not everyone can afford this, but they’re still going for it, believing that some way down the line, it’ll make financial sense for them. But the fact that they may have to wait a while is not putting them off.
At least Apple is commited
“More affordable and democratic”. That’s quite a statement, and I guess it does align with Cook’s comments about the headset still not being for the masses. However, most Vision Pro rumors point to Apple launching a different, cheaper version of Vision Pro (Vision Lite) and not necessarily making the existing headset cheaper.
Dropping the price of the existing Vision Pro is a strategy I suggested last year: “It costs a lot to build the Vision Pro (one estimate puts it at over $1,540) […] [Apple] should simply cut the price by more than half and take the hit.”
My point was that Apple is making more and more services revenue, and that the Vision Pro is just another platform on which it can deliver all that content and all those features (but at a very high level). Why not put it in more hands?
I’m not sure that Bono is fully in touch with current economic realities, when he suggests that, somehow, some way, people will eventually be able to afford the Vision Pro or that, at least, it’ll make “financial sense.”
I don’t see that happening. At $3,500, the Vision Pro costs as much as a modest vacation, a powerful gaming computer, or luxury goods like a watch or designer bag. These are more than considered purchases, and the latter two are for the well-off or even rich.
Apple’s products may generally be more expensive than the competition, but they do not sell only to the elite. Take a look around: virtually everyone has an iPhone. If the iPhone started at $3,000, that would not be the case.
I always encourage people to visit an Apple Store and experience the Vision Pro for themselves. They’ll quickly see what all the fuss is about, but that experience also makes the price that much more painful. You may want to take the Vision Pro home, but we’re still not living in a mixed-reality democracy, at least not yet.
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lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)
