Well, Apple went and did the thing. After years of rumors, speculation, and expectation, the company finally unveiled its first new product category since 2014’s Apple Watch with the announcement of the Apple Vision Pro. The AR and VR headset, which is currently priced at a steep $3,500 and has a tentative launch date of early 2024, is Apple’s first major swing at making the idea of spatial computing a reality.
During the 2023 Worldwide Developers Conference on June 5, Apple finally took the wraps off the eagerly anticipated mixed-reality headset, and the Web3 community certainly didn’t fail to notice how its introduction could profoundly shape the evolution of the metaverse and the crypto art sphere. Here’s what people are saying.
Excitement and praise for Apple Vision Pro
Well-known figures in both the Web3 and VR world have shown their enthusiasm for Apple’s newest product announcement. Reddit and Web3 funding venture Seven Seven Six founder Alexis Ohanian, Oculus VR founder Palmer Lucky, and Gmoney all expressed enthusiasm for the headset and its possibilities.
Goodbye privacy screens on commercial flights?
And the easy AR/VR shift should make it more viable around the house. One killer feature in AR/VR gaming will be the ability to be able to hand a unit to another person and seamlessly start playing together IRL. https://t.co/nsoQP8HO63— Alexis Ohanian 🧠 (@alexisohanian) June 5, 2023
The Apple headset is so good.
— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) May 14, 2023
🙋♂️
— gmoney.9dcc.eth (@gmoneyNFT) June 5, 2023
Not everyone in Web3 is convinced
Amongst the fanfare and praise was a healthy amount of skepticism from both artists and builders in the NFT sphere. Post-photography magician Roope Rainisto was among those who expressed concern about just how apps in the Apple Vision Pro workspace would look and fit in a user’s field of view. Others felt the copy-paste manner in which Apple projects its apps into physical space lacked the imagination needed to really capitalize on the promise of spatial computing.
Further, Chana Kanzen, founder of London Women Leading Web3 and head of Rug Radio Partnerships, praised the tech but expressed skepticism around the fit and comfort of the glasses.
The info density here is always a funny question.
Imagine how big this Excel window is in your view… How big a similar monitor would be.
The content looks – cramped?
Unless it’s just done so for the purpose of this demonstration video. pic.twitter.com/gCONwZLYOz— Roope Rainisto (@rainisto) June 5, 2023
Apple’s new headset – yes the tech is amazing and exciting but I still feel until we are able to integrate VR into lightweight, breathable glasses that are comfortable to wear for long periods of time, mobile and compact we won’t see the adoption these companies are hoping for .…
— rektAlice🦋 (@inNFTland) June 5, 2023
What is Web3 without satire?
NFT community members were quick to hone in on some of the more humorous aspects of the announcement, highlighting both Vision Pro’s high price point and how crypto degens might utilize the tool.
when you find out it’s $3499 pic.twitter.com/mXJCfSWboe
— 𒐪 (@SHL0MS) June 5, 2023
The Apple Headset is extremely cheap. I stopped ordering coffee for one week and already bought two.
Passive income will change your life
— ThreadGuy 👑 (@notthreadguy) June 5, 2023
And, of course, the community couldn’t resist using Vision Pro as a lens through which to comment on the SEC’s recent lawsuit filings against two of the biggest crypto exchanges in existence, Binance and Coinbase.
She’s reading the SEC Vs Binance Lawsuit pic.twitter.com/jcgJwE0KDw
— Jonah 🎮 (@RealJonahBlake) June 5, 2023
With a release date of early 2024 in the works, both the wary and the hopeful will have to wait to see just what Apple brings to market, but the possibility of the world’s largest tech company by revenue taking a serious shot at spatial computing is nothing to scoff at.
