Media reports suggest that sales of Apple’s Vision Pro augmented reality device have slowed to the point that demand for pre-purchase in-store demos is at an all-time low, with many would-be customers failing to show up after having booked one. Apparently, sales in some stores have gone from a couple of units a day to just a few a week.
Some users say that after a first period of enthusiasm, during which they used the device to watch movies, YouTube videos, or some other kind of immersive computer experience, they were soon put off by the lack of applications or the cumbersome connection process (booting up, connecting to the battery and navigating to the desired feature). Many people said the Vision Pro was more appropriate to use alone at home or on a long flight, given the difficulties of talking to other people when wearing it.
It has to be said that the Vision Pro’s App Store is pretty bare, and not even many of Apple’s own apps are yet optimized for it. According to some, the Spatial Persona feature in particular, used to simulate being in the same room as another Vision Pro user, works particularly well and is highly realistic, but it has a problem: it’s hard to find another Vision Pro user to share the experience with.