The Year of Science and Technology in China
The hope of gold rush implied by Apple's new ecology of Vision Pro has already appeared.Text: "Chinese Entrepreneur" reporter Li XinEdited by Mina
Visual China
When Steve Jobs was at the helm of Apple, he often ended his press conference by casually saying, "One more thing," and then throwing out an epoch-making product. In the Cook era, Apple's "one more thing" moment was rare.
It wasn't until the WWDC conference on June 6, 2023 that Apple CEO Tim Cook finally slowly said the long-awaited "One More Thing" - Apple Vision Pro.
At the press conference, Cook said, "Just as the Mac has brought us into the age of personal computingThe iPhone will bring us into the era of mobile computing, and the Apple Vision Pro will lead us into the era of spatial computing. This makes it hard for many people not to think of the "iPhone moment" in the past.
On February 16th, about two weeks after the official launch, with the arrival of the return window for the first batch of buyers, this VR headset, which was regarded by many reviewers as "the best VR headset known in the world", was once on the hot search on Weibo due to the news of "frequent returns". Uncomfortable wearing and low cost performance of products are the main reasons for returns listed by users on social platforms.
Ma Jiajun, a 21-year-old "fruit fan", spent $3,499 (about 2.) at 8 a.m. EST on January 19, 202450,000 yuan) successfully booked a Vision Pro, but after using it for a while, he admitted to "Chinese Entrepreneur" that he often doesn't know what to do after opening Vision Pro, "There are not many games that come with the device, and most of the time is used to watch movies and materials."
As Ma Jiajun said,The lack of adequate applications, and the fact that some of the pre-installed applications are not optimized – not adapting to spatial computing effects – have all been criticized for the Vision Pro. It has even been reported that Netflix, YouTube and Spotify, the world's three most popular streaming** services, have made it clear that they will not launch a VisionOS version of the software, nor will they port the iPad version of the app to the Vision Pro.
However, Vision Pro, which is not perfect and has even caused a "return wave" controversy, still makes a group of entrepreneurs and developers feel enthusiastic.
At the debut conference of Apple's Vision Pro, Zhang Fan, as a full-stack engineer, and a group of friends who are engaged in development intuitively felt that this is a new ticket - for those of them who are both developers and B-end users, this is an opportunity that cannot be missed, Zhang Fan said, "We see those who seize the opportunity to develop new software in the iOS system and iPadOS, and make a lot of money, and Vision Pro is a new outlet." ”In order to buy the Apple Vision Pro, he prepared $10,000 as a reserve.
Today's imperfection is where the opportunity lies in Zhang Fan's view. "The original Apple Vision Pro is like a more than perfect engineering prototype, it has reached a high level in hardware, but there is still a lot of room for improvement in terms of software and user experience, so the target audience is not the mass consumer of the C-side. Selling to developers and B-end users may be the main goal of this generation of products. ”
Even, there are already people who have started to make money through Vision Pro. In Beijing, Hangzhou and other places, there have been experience stores of Vision Pro, and consumers can "get started" by paying in the store.
The quickest action is a start-up company called Beijing Instant Space Technology. On June 8, 2023, the third day after the Vision Pro press conference, they began to plan and build the first standard "space Internet café", according to their vision, the so-called "space Internet café" is based on Vision Pro to provide a full range of shared hardware, software and content services, and deeply integrate with the shopping mall offline metaverse space.
All this points to the hope of gold rush implied by Apple's new ecology of Vision Pro, which seems to have appeared.
Zhang Fan, a full-stack engineer living in North America, is a VR enthusiast, and he has all the VR equipment available on the market in the United States.
On January 19, 2024, at 8 a.m. EST, Vision Pro opened pre-sale, and Zhang Fan deliberately set an alarm clock to buy it. In addition to his interest, he has his own reasons for buying itThat is, "the first generation of Vision Pro may not be a game-changing product, but it must be a good opportunity to make money".
After all, the Apple ecosystem has made too many companies and individuals in the past few decades. Especially in the development market environment of North America, for some independent developers and small companies, the Apple ecosystem is like a gold mine. Zhang Fan told China Entrepreneur, "Whether Apple provides a new hardware foundation or a new software environment foundation, developers and companies can explore use cases and develop various applications on the basis of these 'new things', and seize the opportunity to obtain considerable benefits." ”
Zhang Fan himself is the beneficiary. At that time, in the early days of the iPad, after the opening of the iPadOS field, Zhang Fan worked for a company that specialized in providing paperless education services to two publishing houses in the United States and Europe. Then, with the improvement of the application of iPad in learning and work scenarios in the European and American markets, the company where Zhang Fan works also got a piece of the pie.
This is not Zhang Fan's only experience of "chasing the wind". When Google Glass, which is the same AR device as Vision Pro, was just launched, Zhang Fan's company immediately purchased several units and became the first batch of people to eat crabs.
We were developing a B2B software for Google Glass at the time. In the process of disassembling the machine, as long as the worker wears Google Glass, he can see how to disassemble each step, saving the process of constantly looking at the computer screen. The software developed by Zhang Fan's team based on Google Glass helped him win a large order from SAP (SAP) in Germany and became its strategic partner.
Although Google Glass has been criticized for its battery life, display level, computing power, and features and operating system, and even the closure of the project after a few years, it is more direct proof that it is a failed work, but it does not mean that it has nothing to dig into. Zhang Fan told "Chinese Entrepreneur"."No matter how failed a product may end up, there's always someone to make money out of it when it opens a door. ”
As for the reason why developers can consider chasing the wind now, Zhang Fan also said that programs developed on iOS or iPadOS at this stage can be run on VisionOS by default, unless otherwise specified. The other is based on Apple's development architecture, RealityKit and Arkit (both of which are tools and frameworks provided by Apple for developers), and specifically for VisionOS.
The new way of interaction brought about by VisionOS has already led companies like Sony to restructure their products, so developers should not understand the development of programs specifically for Vision Pro itself as discovering use cases and developing new programs for the new mode of spatial computing. Zhang Fan said, "Then this kind of development belongs to one platform to do well, and multiple platforms can be reused, just like the previous VR games, after the development of one platform, and then transplanted to other platforms at a lower cost." ”
At this stage, Zhang Fan and his team want to develop the application on Apple's Vision Pro, in addition to some utility (assistive) tools that are still in the design stage, and are also considering transplanting the company's previous applications that have been launched in the F&B (food and beverage) field after adding new exclusive functions.
If the business that developers are aiming at still needs time to land, some entrepreneurs directly start the idea of the device itself.
From the beginning of the debut of the Vision Pro, the price of up to $3499 has caused controversy and dissuaded a number of ordinary consumers.
It can only be bought in Apple retail stores in the United States and Apple ** stores in the United States, and the reality that there is no prototype and spot ** in official channels in Chinese mainland also makes it impossible for most domestic consumers to "get started" with Vision Pro in a short time.
As a result, someone seized on the time difference and successfully nuged from the potential demand.
Soon after the release of Apple*** on Fifth Avenue in New York, a Vision Pro experience space called "Vision Space Space Internet V Bar" appeared in Hopson Hui in Beijing.
In the store of more than 30 square meters, there are long sofas and tables, high-end pianos, and several customers wearing Vision Pros are drawing and kneading in the air, which at first glance looks like in the movie "Ready Player One".
In this space, the experience of Vision Pro is paid by the hour, and the minimum threshold is 98 yuan, and you can freely experience Vision Pro for one hour, and if you experience "Encounter Dinosaurs" alone, it will only cost 39$8. "This short film works best and best captures the power of Vision Pro. A clerk explained to a consumer who came to consult.
Chen Zhuzhu, the store manager, told China Entrepreneur, "After the listing on February 2, we got the first equipment at 3 a.m. on February 4. At present, there are more than 20 devices in the store, and there are three stores with the concept of "space Internet café" in Beijing. Since its opening, the number of visitors to the store has been two to three hundred per day during peak periods. ”
And their bet on Vision Pro is earlier and wider.
Behind this space Internet café is an Internet company called Beijing Instant-dimensional Space Technology. According to the official mini program, on June 8, 2023, the third day after the release of Vision Pro, the company started the construction of the first standard space Internet café, and the decoration was successfully completed and delivered in August of the same year.
The so-called space Internet café can be understood as "the Internet entrance and space of the urban space with Vision Pro as the shared device." Or it can be understood as converting an Internet café in the 90s of the last century into a physical space with N Vision Pros."
In addition to exploring the commercial value of Vision Pro itself, Chen Zhuzhu's team also has a long-term goal. They started working on the application two years ago. "What our team is working on is an immersive application that includes entertainment, social and other attributes, and users can wear it to enter a shopping mall, world, etc., where the virtual and real are integrated. ”
At present, the native applications that can be supported by Apple's Vision Pro can be divided into two main categories: one is the ported application of iOS iPadOS (2D version); The other is the native app experience based on Vision Pro features. The company seems to want to be the latter.
The software they are betting on has never been launched on other VR devices, and they have been waiting for the new opportunities brought by the release of Apple's Vision Pro, "After the release of the national version of Vision Pro in the future, this app will also be launched simultaneously." We are quite optimistic about this prospect. Chen Pearl said.
But not everyone is optimistic about the prospects of Vision Pro and the industries and opportunities that will arise from it. At this stage, the direction of the gold diggers is more like crossing the river by feeling the stones.
A VR entrepreneur commented on the leasing business to Jiemian News, mentioning that leasing can only attract customers who want to try it first, rather than in-depth users, and it is a one-time business with a low repurchase rate.
Another experiencer who went to the space Internet café to consume told "Chinese Entrepreneur" that he chose to experience it because he couldn't get in touch with Vision Pro, but he should not go back in the short term. "The equipment is too heavy, and after wearing it for about half an hour, there is a feeling of discomfort, and as a selling point, the interaction method and viewing experience, it is enough to spend money to experience it once. ”
The above-mentioned entrepreneur also saidVision Pro also needed a real killer app to keep users coming back for more, which in turn would support the sustainability of the rental business.
The opportunity that Zhang Fan anchored is also considered by some developers to be premature.
Kong Xiangyu, an independent developer living in North America, told "Chinese Entrepreneur" that the price of Vision Pro is relatively high, and it is currently only available in the US market, and it is difficult to sell in the future**, but it may not be too much. Therefore,When the target user base is relatively small, developers need to consider whether it is worth investing too much resources in such a particular market.
According to reports, Apple's Vision Pro headset sales have exceeded 200,000 units so far, and according to analysts, shipments in 2024 are expected to be 500,000 units.
If the user base is too small, how can you make money from what you make? Kong Xiangyu asked rhetorically.
In this regard, Zhang Fan, the developer, said that if Vision Pro is just a desperate entrepreneurial direction, it really needs to be considered, because at least a certain amount of customer groups are needed to support revenue.
But Zhang Fan still believes that this is an outlet worth chasing, "This is the same as the problems in the AI field, the VR field, and many scientific research fields. My view is that entrepreneurs should get involved early in the industry in order to gain an edge over the competition. ”
As the smartphone market enters the stock era, the story of high growth stays yesterday, and the new interaction brought by Vision Pro is more like injecting a stimulant into the technology industry, making developers and entrepreneurs heartbeat faster again. It is difficult to say whether it can usher in the era of spatial computing and change the fate of Apple. But at least now, for some waveriders, the emergence of Vision Pro has also opened up more possibilities for their next step.
Reference: **Vision Pro price dropped to 30,000 yuan, if you don't want to buy, you can rent", interface news.
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