Last Week in AVP #39: Vimeo Brings Spatial Video to Apple Vision Pro, Mac Virtual Display Ultrawide Targets Beta 2.2, Apple Adding Spatial Photo and Video Support to Safari, and more!
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Fake rumors wild spread on the topic of AVP production
This week you might have come across a few headlines from Macrumors, TheVerge, Yahoo, all linking back to the TheInformation, reporting that AVP production might be halting some time this year.
There’s a wild-spread sentiment that AVP has been a disappointment within Apple and did not meet their sales expectation. I wouldn’t pay too much attention to this report because no one but Apple will know their supply chain secrets. And there’s no evidence of this. John at daringfireball.net explains it best.
I’ve mentioned this before, but in June 2023 TheElec reported that Sony, the exclusive supplier of the high-resolution OLED displays in Vision Pro, only has the physical capacity to manufacture 900,000 units per year, and with two displays per Vision Pro, that put a maximum capacity on Vision Pro production at about 450,000 headsets for the year. That’s only slightly higher than the actual sales estimate The Information cites from Counterpoint Research, of 420,000 units.
News publications love to cite their own previous reporting when it turned out to be accurate. Who doesn’t love to gloat? I sure do. Which thus makes it highly conspicuous that The Information is painting ~420,000 unit sales of Vision Pro as a grand disappointment, when, on 31 May 2023, Wayne Ma himself reported the following, under the headline “Apple’s Learning Curve: How Headset’s Design Caused Production Challenges”:
…
A headline like, say, “Vision Pro Sales Are Exactly in Line With Expectations” is not going to hit people as a big story, but “Apple Sharply Scales Back Production of Vision Pro” does. It’s the classic “Man Bites Dog” being a story and “Dog Bites Man” not. Apple is a company that is famous for making spectacularly popular products. Vision Pro is definitely not a spectacularly popular product. But it’s disingenuous, to say the least, for an October 2024 report to suggest that Vision Pro sales are surprisingly weak when they’re almost exactly in line with uncannily accurate expectations set in a May 2023 report by the exact same reporter at the same publication.
Apple CEO Tim Cook reassures that Apple Vision Pro is here to stay, this is only the beginning (Wall Street Journal interview)
"At $3,500, it's not a mass-market product," Cook told WSJ's Ben Cohen. "Right now, it's an early-adopter product. People who want to have tomorrow's technology today—that's who it's for. Fortunately, there's enough people who are in that camp that it's exciting."
Apple CEO Tim Cook
Vimeo brings spatial video sharing to everyone with new Apple Vision Pro app (Vimeo)
Today, we're thrilled to announce the launch of the Vimeo app for Apple Vision Pro, ushering in a new era of immersive storytelling with spatial video.
Spatial video is more than just a new format; it's a glimpse into the future of video consumption. By capturing the world in a way that feels more true-to-life, spatial video offers an immersive viewing experience that's impossible to replicate with traditional 2D formats.
Tim Cook in China visiting stores, developers, musicians, universities, photographer (source)
Cook visited two universities to see how students are using Apple devices.
We’re deeply committed to empowering communities and creating opportunities, so it was great meeting with students from China Agricultural University and Zhejiang University to learn more about how they’re using iPhone and iPad to help farmers adopt more efficient and sustainable practices. Thank you to CFRD and everyone at Science and Technology Backyards—we’re proud to support your work!
Cisco announces Cisco Spatial Meetings for Apple Vision Pro (source)
Today, Cisco is extending its “Distance Zero” vision by integrating Apple Vision Pro in its latest Cisco Spatial Meetings. This new technology promises to revolutionize virtual collaboration by providing an experience as close as possible to in-person interaction, making remote meetings more immersive, engaging, and productive.
Cisco’s “Distance Zero” initiative aims to eliminate the sense of physical separation in today’s hybrid work environments. Through advanced AI-powered devices and Webex software, Cisco has already made significant strides toward this goal, aimed at making remote collaboration feel more natural.
Apple is Adding Spatial Photo and Video Support to Safari (source)
“Once you embedded spatial content, folks who are on Vision Pro are getting spatial and folks who are just looking at it on their laptop see it in two dimensions,” Sorrentino says.
“And at the same time, you can create all sorts of photos into spatial photos [in Vision Pro] including old historical photos. You could do this to all your old product reviews, you could to it to World War II photos, video game screenshots… I mean, what’s so cool about this technology is it gives us the ability to take things into that next dimension.”
The WebKit that will allow spatial content to be displayed in Safari to Vision Pro users will be arriving later this year.
Mac Virtual Display Wide & Ultrawide options will launch during the visionOS 2.2 beta cycle (source)
The new Mac Virtual Display Wide & Ultrawide options will launch during the visionOS 2.2 beta cycle and release to the public before the end of the year.
So for those who will be running the beta, it could be just a few weeks away.
"Panoramic productivity with Mac Virtual Display" Apple says the new Mac Virtual Display options are "like having an expandable, ultrawide screen that wraps around you. It’s the equivalent of having two 4K displays sitting side by side — everything looks astoundingly sharp and incredibly detailed."
I felt like I was transported back to 1995 and 2010. I was standing right in front of lost loved ones again. I felt sadness that they were ghosts lost to time. I felt love like when we were together. I felt a part of me heal. I know I miss these people, and I know I feel sadness that they’re gone. Now I’m learning again how happy they made me through this vivid memory. That helps me understand why missing them can hurt so badly.
This experience makes you take account of everyone you love in your life now. My kids who weren’t born when those memories were captured. New friends I had yet to meet when I was younger. And for the friends and family who I can still reconnect with. Seriously, huge kudos to everyone who played in a role in making it possible to spatialize existing photos in visionOS 2.
I had to share this visceral experience with someone else. My son’s great grandfather lost his wife over the summer after 50 years of marriage. I used the spatial effect in visionOS 2 on photos of our visits with them from the past decade, then created an album of those photos for him to view. “There she is,” he said as he reached his arm out to her.
Shapr3D transforms model development on Vision Pro (source)
Discover how Shapr3D on Vision Pro transforms model development.
Collaborate seamlessly with real-time feedback and with minimal setup, creating 3D models that feel like physical prototypes.
First-ever spatial storytelling creation tool for Apple Vision Pro (source)
𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 is the world’s first spatial storytelling creating tool and sharing platform designed exclusively for Apple Vision Pro, revolutionizing the creative experience. With 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝟮.𝟬, you can easily create 3D spatial content without any professional background.
CAE first to showcase immersive pilot training solution built for Apple Vision Pro (source)
"This Apple Vision Pro app developed by CAE will allow pilots to familiarize themselves with the flight deck, practice critical procedures, and develop muscle memory for key functions from anywhere,” said Emmanuel Levitte, CAE’s Chief Technology and Product Officer. “It will allow pilots to engage with realistic flight deck environments to further ensure they are ready for their full-flight simulator sessions and become even better prepared for any situation.”
This is What Happens When Apps Break Free from Single Windows (source)
We’re used to apps being stuck in a single window—but with visionOS they don't have to be. Spatial Computing allows us to break out different parts of an app and put them where they’re actually useful.
Apps are becoming more modular and flexible. Instead of everything being crammed into one window, features can be broken out and integrated into our space, wherever they make the most sense for us. It’s about making apps adapt to us, not the other way around.
What do you think? Are we ready to ditch single windows and embrace a more modular future?
I'd love for you to check out our take on a productivity app that embraces spatial computing and see how it can make your life easier.
https://spatialreminders.ca/
Visiting Steve Jobs’ childhood home with AVP (source)
Made it to Steve Jobs’ childhood home where it all began. A bucket list moment for me!
Wearing the Vision Pro here feels surreal, being where the first Apple I was built.
