News Apple Makes "Major Cuts" to Vision Pro Production Plans, Says Report

[Admin]

Apple's production plans for the Vision Pro appear to have been severely cut back, according to industry leaks.

Apple Makes "Major Cuts" to Vision Pro Production Plans, Says Report : Read more

 

[Elusive Ruse]

Damage control 😁

 

[Giroro]

This is what happens when you tell 3rd party app developers to waste their own time and money inventing a reason for customers to buy this thing... and the developers said no.

 

[Sippincider]

This is what happens when you tell 3rd party app developers to waste their own time and money inventing a reason for customers to buy this thing

Us geezers with OpenDoc scars have seen this before...

The obvious concern is why Apple felt here & now was THE time to announce something this premature (Copland scars showing as well).

 

[wbfox]

Yes, good job Apple, pay to build more advanced manufacturing in China. It's time to make Mr. Cook move in with Jack Ma.

 

[kjfatl]

This is what happens when you tell 3rd party app developers to waste their own time and money inventing a reason for customers to buy this thing... and the developers said no.

The article indicates that the problem is low manufacturing yields of a cutting edge component. It is not unusual for this type of development to take several years to optimize. Do you remember when flat screen TV's cost more than $10,000. Turn the clock forward a decade or so and there are hundreds of choices of sets available for less than $200, not counting the billions produced at low cost for cell phones. It also takes many years to develop apps for this sort of device. The important thing for Apple is to get these units in the hands of developers.

 

[bit_user]

The obvious concern is why Apple felt here & now was THE time to announce something this premature

I really don't follow the Apple rumor mill, but I read somewhere that Tim Cook decided this was the year to "push the bird out of the nest", so to speak, in spite of many at Apple feeling it was still too premature.

I'm not going to speculate on why Cook might've reached that decision, assuming those reports are even accurate, but it does suggest that even Apple wasn't entirely convinced it was ready.

Of course, that probably has more to do with the technology and not so much with the manufacturing concerns covered by the article.

 

[bit_user]

Yes, good job Apple, pay to build more advanced manufacturing in China.

I'm not sure they have much choice. It's an extremely advanced product and they're using a firm with AR manufacturing experience - that's going to be rare. With a product that's already so risky, you have to try and eliminate risks anywhere you can.

In the long term, I'm sure they can diversify their manufacturing of these products. Even the best-case volumes pale in comparison to iPhone, so that's really the ball to keep your eyes on.

 

[mrv_co]

The article indicates that the problem is low manufacturing yields of a cutting edge component. It is not unusual for this type of development to take several years to optimize. Do you remember when flat screen TV's cost more than $10,000. Turn the clock forward a decade or so and there are hundreds of choices of sets available for less than $200, not counting the billions produced at low cost for cell phones. It also takes many years to develop apps for this sort of device. The important thing for Apple is to get these units in the hands of developers.

My guess would be that gen1 is not going to be Apple-Margin-Friendly... even at $3,500. Gen1 will be for app developers and gen2 will be the high volume / high margin product they try to sell to users.

 

[scottslayer]

What was Apple really expecting though?
The project has been in development hell for something like 15(!) years and has been referred to multiple times internally(!) as a massive money sink.
Tim Cook had to threaten the division to actually produce something marketable or else. The VR division then finally deign to announce its release as a halo product, cripple the ability of users to get the most use out of it, and lean completely on developers to sell their product.
Bravo Apple.

 

[bit_user]

What was Apple really expecting though?
The project has been in development hell for something like 15(!) years and has been referred to multiple times internally(!) as a massive money sink.
Tim Cook had to threaten the division to actually produce something marketable or else. The VR division then finally deign to announce its release as a halo product, cripple the ability of users to get the most use out of it, and lean completely on developers to sell their product.

Because:

• They decided to tackle AR, not VR.
• Because it's Apple, they're perfectionists.
• If you want to do it really well, AR is much, much harder than VR.
• The technology barely exists to do AR well.
• Because it's Apple, they think they can make expensive hardware and people will still buy it. Hence, not as much focus on cost-control or manufacturability as most companies would do.

Sadly, the thing is so bulky that initial applications will be more VR than AR, because the necessary tech to make a fashionable and unobtrusive AR of that caliber still isn't quite there.

So, maybe it's a story of overestimating their abilities and how quickly the necessary tech will arrive.