Five products that warned Apple that people don’t want the Vision Pro
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The future is looking digital. Apple revealed the Apple Vision Pro at its 2023 Worldwide Developers Conference, introducing the world to its first venture into spatial computing.
The announcement came with many surprises, but none greater than the price tag. At its launch in early 2024, the Vision Pro will retail for $3,499, making it one of Apple’s most expensive products. While there’s some incredible technology in the device, the price point isn’t going to help people adopt a wearable headset.
People have come to expect high prices from Apple, so that may not be the brand’s biggest barrier. Rather, it could be the fact that people just don’t want this technology. If we look at products from the past that tried to mix the digital and physical worlds, consumers haven’t been very willing to adopt them.
Vision Pro could be a different story, but these five products weren’t lucky enough to change the way people interact with technology. If the new device is going to work, it will need to right a lot of wrongs, because the tech graveyard is home to quite a few failures — but there’s space for more.
3D TV
Roughly 15 years before the Vision Pro, it felt like the world was preparing for 3D TVs to take over. Today, those screens are relics of the past. Some of Hollywood’s biggest films (think Avatar) relied on the tech, and electronics companies thought people would upgrade for their at-home viewing experience. But, they were wrong. It turned out to be a costly investment, 3D technology couldn’t keep up with other television advancements, and people hated wearing the glasses — they even made some viewers sick.
To be clear, Vision Pro is not a 3D device, but when the general public sees the design, many people are likely to associate it with 3D televisions. Even if Apple can overcome this association, that doesn’t mean there aren’t similarities. People may not want to immerse themselves in a new technology when the old way works perfectly fine.
