TechJun 5, 2023
The Product Announcement We’ve All Been Waiting For: Apple’s VisionOS — Falls Flat On Its Face
Mixed Reality
Victor Lei
Discover
Another week in 2023, another big tech giant breaking all-time highs. This time, we’ve got Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) leading up to its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
Major announcements included the 15in MacBook Air, the new macOS Sonoma and Apple’s Standby mode.
The one everyone was waiting for: The much anticipated VR/AR headset — Vision Pro.
The device is priced at $3,499 and will be available in early 2024. But its success depends on how it solves issues faced by existing headsets like a lack of useful apps, physical limitations and pricing.
What happened after the announcement? 📉. Instead, Unity (NYSE:U) jumped 17% after Apple’s announced a partnership with the game development tool provider to build apps for the Vision Pro.
Beyond a few features, the headset isn’t much different compared to Meta’s — which has been forced to make several price cuts to attract users.
Apple is keeping a modest sales forecast of 900K units per year — according to Bloomberg (vs. 200M+ iPhones sold each year).
Per tech reporter Casey Newton, “Apple usually gets hardware right in the end… in this case, the end is still a long time away.”
Here’s what might stop that. Miller Tabak + Co’s chief market strategist says stock has traded above 30x price-to-earnings (where it’s currently at) for only five days in the past half-dozen years (BBG).
Apple is still Apple: “Quality company, with a lot of cash, continued innovation, a fortress balance sheet, and a large customer base upgrading their products,” per DFD Partners’ CEO.
