Today was Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC), with a variety of announcements: 📝
Taking the cake, however, was the highly-anticipated Vision Pro headset. Finally, after seven years of development, Apple’s augmented reality (AR) headset was finally released. 🤩
Apple CEO Tim Cook said the device “seamlessly” blends the real and digital world, making it the first Apple product you look through and not at. The device, which looks like a pair of ski goggles, sports a separate battery pack and is controlled by the user’s eyes, hands, and voice. Downward-facing cameras are designed to capture your hands even if they’re in resting form.
While the product is primarily positioned as an augmented reality (AR) device, it can switch between augmented and full virtual (VR) reality with the push of a dial. In addition, it runs on an operating system called visionOS, which allows users to browse rows of app icons by looking at them. And to make it even easier, it supports Bluetooth accessories like a keyboard and trackpad.
Features aside, what ultimately caught investors’ attention was the $3,499 price tag. That’s well beyond the price tag of Meta’s Quest 3, which starts at $500 and comes out this fall. Maybe it’s seven times more expensive because it’s seven times better? There was certainly a lot of skepticism. 💰
What most seem to be focused on is the high price putting mass adoption far out of reach. More optimistic onlookers say Apple has always started with niche products and iterated them to gain mass-market appeal over time. Only time will tell.
Ultimately, we saw a “sell the news” type of situation in the stock. $AAPL shares pushed to new all-time highs intraday but reversed sharply throughout the event to close down nearly 1%. 📉
