It appears that Apple is very much getting ready to release its Vision Pro device. Following its announcement earlier this year, Apple has been cautious about confirming a specific release date for the Vision Pro. However, with the currently available information, Apple is aiming for a March 2024 window.
Despite some setbacks during production, Apple is now seemingly ready for its proposed release in the 2024 window, as shown by a recent push by Apple to introduce Vsion Pro training sessions to its retail store workers in the new year.
Like with its current technology lineup, Apple’s in-store retailer workers are renowned for their expertise in the firm’s product portfolio, such as iPhones and Macs. However, with Vision Pro’s new spatial computing framework, Apple is supplying specific training to familiarise its retail workers before the product’s release.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is setting up two-day long Vision Pro training sessions, where Apple will fly out headsets and experts from its headquarters to train workers in each of Apple’s US stores.
Reports suggest that Apple is setting up training for mid-January to show retail employees how to set up a headset for individual prospective buyers, ensuring an excellent introduction to the device.
A commonplace hurdle many first-time XR users face is a headset’s set-up and onboarding process, which can lead to motion sickness and other difficulties. But with Apple taking an incredibly active approach to educating employees on the headset, the firm could promote XR education that helps potential buyers adopt the hardware.
It appears that Apple employees will be able to help set up a device in-store and allow prospective buyers to be hands-on with the firm’s unique spatial computing outlook – perhaps assisting customers in showing the productivity benefits of MR headsets.
Vision Pro Release Window and Developer Details
According to reports, Apple is ready to release the Vision Pro in March – if all goes to plan, that is. However, this is a pushback from its original January launch window, when the firm faced distribution and finalizing device testing issues.
The March window seems solid. The Vision Pro device will cost shoppers $3,499, as Apple initially revealed at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June this year. The price tag seems astronomical compared to other consumer-grade headsets on the market; however, reports also suggest that Apple is already working on a cheaper device.
Initial buyers may be Apple and XR enthusiasts. However, it should be noted that Apple is aiming its product partially towards developers and enterprise customers where the price point could become more accessible – similar to XR products such as the HoloLens 2. The device will initially enter markets in the United States and release later in Canada and the United Kingdom.
Notably, Apple is working to expand its Apple Vision Pro developer labs to provide more support for the XR developer talent pool – another industry hurdle. In October, Apple introduced Vision Pro developer labs in New York City and Sydney, allowing a wider breadth of developers to test their apps on the innovative device with assistance from Apple employees, engineers, and experts.
The Apple Vision Pro developer labs are sessions that allow developers to work directly on the device and receive feedback from Apple experts. These sessions help developers optimize their visionOS, iPadOS, and iOS apps for the new platform. The labs also guide using Apple Vision Pro’s new features and frameworks, like spatial audio, hand tracking, and face capture.
Apple has also been running the Vision Pro developer labs since early August in Cupertino, London, Munich, Shanghai, Singapore, and Tokyo, and the firm is receiving positive responses from developers who have participated – painting a positive picture of future in-store taster sessions.
More on Apple Vision Pro
The upcoming Vision Pro headset will feature two Micro OLED 4K displays with a resolution of 3800 x 3000 per eye. It will also have a ring of LED lights to improve eye-tracking performance and hand-tracking sensors, allowing users to interact with their spatial computing environment without controllers. The headset will support two power options: an outlet and an external battery pack.
The Vision Pro will run on a proprietary software stack and an Apple silicon architecture. Apple has partnered with Zeiss to develop custom optical inserts that will be available for users who require prescription glasses, coinciding with the official Apple Vision Pro release date next year.
Users can access productivity and collaboration applications, such as the Safari browser, on a large display, and FaceTime will also be available on the headset. However, instead of showing your contact image, the FaceTime app for Vision Pro will create a digital persona to represent you in-app.
Developers can start building apps natively for the headset using “VisionOS” and explore features like Apple’s new “EyeSight” solution. Apple is also collaborating with Unity to improve accessibility for developers by partnering with the respected RT3D engine to help developers port existing and create new Vision Pro services – third-party developers can leverage the Unity engine to support Vision Pro features like hard-tracking.
