APPLE VISION PRO

INNOVATING FOR THE SAKE OF IT? 



As I write this, Apples newest innovation has just released to the market, the Vision Pro. I complained in my last blog about them having a lack of innovation in my previous blog. I’m not sure this is the innovation I quite had in mind though. This is a short one today, just sumarising a few of my thoughts about this controversial new development at Apple.
 
I am quite interested in new consumer electronics, and naturally I’ve been seeing a lot of discourse about this new headset. A virtual reality device that I don’t think I quite understand. While it does seem to be a feat in engineering and technological advancement I feel like the premise and execution is more that of a dystopian nightmare. While not bad design I do feel it is unnecessary and sort of worrying and here’s why...


Apple Promotional Imagery
Virtual reality started as a medium for gaming, and that made sense. I’ve tried it a few times and it’s an interesting new way to experience games. But Apples newest product isn’t a gaming device, it’s just a computer for your eyes. It is augmented reality. The reason I’m writing this blog is because I’ve been seeing videos on TikTok and Twitter about reviews and commentary on this device. 


TikTok of a person pretending to type 
One which was clearly made as a joke was of someone sitting on a bus with the headset on, typing on an invisible keyboard as if they were sat at a desk. While a strange sight it made me think how horrible the premise of this is. The few moments you might get to yourself on the commute to work still spent working as though you were in an office. The more technology advances the less we seem to be able to escape it. It’s bad enough always having a phone on you, you can be contacted through phonecalls and emails every time you pick it up but the idea of wearing your phone makes it even more grim.


Video of someones Vision Pro Setup around the house
Another was of a perspective inside the headset around someone’s home. They had around 8 screens set up around the room displaying how effective the device is at tracking your surroundings and keeping things in place. Four monitors at a desk for email and workflow, music controls on one wall, a giant movie screen on the other, cooking instructional videos in the kitchen and a to do list plastered over the fridge. While it was impressive I just thought about how sad it is. Disconnected in your own little world. Why would you need or want this much going on?

It reminds me of the movie ‘Ready Player One’ where life is so miserable and bleak in the future that everyone spends their time in a completely made-up world viewed through one of these headsets. This is like that except that instead of providing an escape and a disconnect from the bleakness of life, it’s just another way to maximise workflow and efficiency. There looks to be no joy to this device, merely another way to get work done. I think it’s important to try and limit our reliance on technology, and this is a step entirely in the wrong direction. It’s good to be able to put a device down and take some time away. Maybe I’m just being extreme, but I just don’t like the premise of this. Maybe this will get so advanced in the future it will fit into a normal pair of glasses or maybe it simply won’t take off. I suppose being such a massive company gives them the freedom of experimenting without needing to make a successful product. I guess this is perhaps a step in the right direction in terms of pushing innovation. I guess lots of successful products start as something far-fetched when they first release. I feel like this is designed for a problem that doesn’t really exist. A product without meaning. Purely designed just to say we could do it. Is this what gets designed when almost anything you can think of already exists?