On Monday, June 5, Tim Cook dropped the infamous One More Thing.
This time, he unveiled Apple’s AR headset: the Apple Vision Pro.
When we think of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, there’s one company that comes to mind.
In 2014, Meta - or Facebook at the time, bought the VR headset maker Oculus for 2 billion dollars. Then in 2021, they literally rebranded the entire company to Meta -signaling their focus on the metaverse.
They were supposed to be the flag bearers of VR and AR.
How then is it that Apple could come out with this headset almost a decade after Meta bought Oculus, charge 3x the price of the Meta Quest Pro, and somehow still generate so much positive press?
Different Philosophies: VR vs AR/ Metaverse vs. Spatial Computing
What’s interesting about Apple’s announcement is that they didn't use the word MetaVerse even once.
Instead, Tim Cook talked about spatial computing; a fancy word for augmented reality.
Essentially, Apple’s headset isn’t designed to disconnect you from your surroundings altogether. Instead, it’s similar to looking through the Ironman suit where you can see little holograms projected onto the actual space you’re looking at.
This is different from Meta’s messaging which takes you out of reality into the virtual world.
Take a look at the Meta Quest Pro home screen.
And now compare it with Apple Vision Pro home screen.
That’s the difference between the MetaVerse, and spatial computing.
Apple actually doesn’t believe that customers want full virtual reality yet. The Apple Vision Pro even has a dial to change how immersed you are in the virtual world.
Marketing Approach
Apple’s marketing genius is well known. But, on Monday Tim Cook proved that they’ve still got it.
With the Apple Vision Pro, there are 3 things that I came across in my analysis that Apple did to really crush this launch.
- Work vs Entertainment Focus
The first thing is focusing the messaging on entertainment.
If we compare the messaging of Apple’s keynote with Meta’s keynote, it’s clear that Meta’s messaging is focused more on using VR for work and collaboration whereas Apple’s messaging focus is primarily on content consumption and entertainment.
Mark Zuckerberg brought on Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and the CEO of Accenture Julie Sweet as guest speakers.
You’re probably thinking that this doesn’t mean anything, but Zuckerberg says that he wants people to use this for work.
On the other hand, Cook invited Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney.
Bob Iger showed a demo of things that you could do with Disney+ on the Apple Vision Pro: immersive content experience, courtside sports, bringing characters into your space, and more.
- Show, don’t tell
If you look at Meta’s keynote vs. Apple’s, another thing that stands out is how much talking there is in Meta’s announcement, talking without any other visuals or anything to show.
For example, when Mark is talking to Nadella and Julie, its just 10 minutes of stretching the time, whereas Iger spent five minutes showing a demo of the Disney experience on the Vision Pro.
- Price as a quality cue
The Meta Quest Pro initially launched with a price tag of $1500, but later dropped down to $100.
Apple’s price tag was $3500, over three times as much as the Meta Quest Pro.
This does two things: signals to people that this is a premium product and gets people talking.
If it’s expensive it must be high quality.
As Dan Kennedy says, there’s no strategic advantage to being the second cheapest option. With tweets and articles about a price this high, it spreads like wildfire; free marketing of the Vision Pro.
Apple’s Unfair Advantage
It’s worth noting here that hardware was a space in that Meta would always be fighting an uphill battle because of Apple’s expertise in designing and marketing world-class hardware.
Apple has an approach of don’t pioneer, be better and are very good at this.
They’re usually not the first to market with products, but when they come to market they’re the best products. They have a very high bar for quality and they take their time and get it right.
Looking at the headset space, Apple was able to take the pain points from the VR headsets in the market today and address all the concerns: you don’t want to completely go into virtual reality.
You want to stay in the real world? Here’s a toggle for how immersed you are.
Oh, you don’t want to attend meetings as an avatar?
Forget work, use this for creating a theater anywhere you go and movies.
You want people to be able to engage with you while you have the headset on? Here’s a screen to the front that mirrors your eyes to people around you.
They also have the advantage of the Apple ecosystem. They can design experiences to blend with Mac, iPhone, watch, and other devices seamlessly.
Conclusion
It certainly seems like Tim Cook is out to get Mark Zuckerberg. First, he hits Mark with a gut punch to their ad business with the privacy settings, and now a right hook to their headset business with the Apple Vision Pro.
Apple’s philosophy of don’t pioneer, be better has allowed them to make a big splash with the launch announcement of the Apple Vision Pro on June 5th.
Time will tell if consumers are willing to buy and how they feel about spatial computing. Although Wall Street analysts seem a bit skeptical, tech YouTubers and Twitter already seem to be bought into the Apple Vision Pro.