I’m excited about the possibilities Apple mentioned for the Vision Pro mixed reality headset. It’s getting us closer to the Cyberspace imagined by William Gibson et.al!
Imagine a world where many more billions of people live and work with a lot less personal space than we have today. No space for a desk for everyone. And we collaborate globally, no longer in offices. We need new personal communication, creation, consummation devices.
Apple’s presentation yesterday highlights a decade of research into making this possible, a step closer also to neurocomputing and the brain-machine interface when the built-in cameras, lidar, IR and chips make sense of what you want to do before you even know it.
However, be mindful that Apple’s demo will still take about a year to land with consumers, and it will cost US$ 3499. Not for the faint of heart. The Verge tested the Vision Pro as thoroughly as possible.
Some more draw-backs to keep in mind before shoving over 3.5k $:
- video calls show 3D avatars, not your real face (uncanny valley!)
- the glass is not see-through, your eyes are filmed real-time and shown on the external screen
- it requires a cable for power. External 2h battery available
All in all, a really powerful demonstration by Apple, on the path that others already started on. Apple will not be alone, and it will likely take a bit longer for mixed reality and cyberspace to as ubiquitous as cellphones are today.