Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

[sideshowuniqueuser]

They can't indefinitely milk the brand that Steve Jobs established. They have to make products that are innovative, polished, practical, low bugged, and reasonably premium priced.

I'd be perfectly happy if they merely managed to not completely mess up the existing Steve Jobs era products that I know and love.

TBH, I am pleasantly surprised that Apple is still healthily kicking along at all. And astounded at how well the AS Macs turned out. Touch wood, fingers crossed, this can keep on going.

However, macOS seems to be slowly declining, with more and more power features be removed with each iteration, much to my disgust. Related to this (due to my suspected motivation for removing power features), the increasingly extreme max ultra pro greed levels of Apple's pricing structures (e.g. RAM/SSD upgrades) leaves much to be desired.

 

[maxoakland]

Why did EVERYONE but Apple know that this is how it will end up?

EVERYONE didn't. I argued with tons of people who told me I was just repeating the same talking points people used when the iPhone came out and the Vision was the next big thing. Those people are pretty quiet now though

 

[Wanted797]

To be fair if an adult is in their 30s and not making at least that much as well as much more in a major city in the US, they have serious problems–especially around retirement time.

And isn’t that just a little messed up?

The median US salary is $50k…

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Why didn’t you include the part where the product is affordable to a broad swath of the population and matches the value that people can expect to get from the product. Maybe because that’s not the case here? The iPod and iPhone were priced as premium products, to be sure. They weren’t priced into the stratosphere and cost people the equivalent of a few mortgage/rent payments.

Definitely bookmarking this one lol.

I think their launch pricing has affected peoples perception of the product. If Apple decide to release a more affordable version in a few years, it’ll be a stripped down version and people will expect it to do everything the Pro does if they like the carrot that has been dangled. I think the whole ‘wearing it on your face’ makes it less appealing and it’s not really solving a problem that exists in current computing that I can think of. It’s a strange product for me and one that isn’t available yet in Europe, still be interesting to see how it is received into a market with several countries fighting recession and public spending reduced.

 

[ryanmp]

Ming-Chi Kuo and his spot on forecasts lol. A few months ago he was saying Vision Pro shipments were better than Apple had expected in the US.

Maybe things have changed, maybe he is right. But he could also be completely wrong. But his “analysis” will still drive headlines.

 

[california_kid]

I bet in a recent meeting Tim asked "Where did we bury all those Lisa boxes? We got any room left?"

 

[Col4bin]

Overpriced and overhyped for sure. All Apple did was take an existing product type and improved materials and hardware to a degree over the competition, yet charged a ridiculous premium like we're sheep to be fleeced for the Apple leadership team's bonuses and its shareholders.

Sorry Tim, it's going to take an actual game-changing, new-to-market must-have product to move the consumer needle. (Not this stagnated and perpetual cycle of iterative product releases...)

I personally don't think you have it in you. Please prove me wrong.

 

[DocMultimedia]

And isn’t that just a little messed up?

The median US salary is $50k…

I paid $899 for my Mac when I was making $12.5k as a grad student. It was worth it to me. How you spend money is a personal decision. If I didn't think it was worthwhile I wouldn't have spent it.

Every single decision you make in life can change the outcome. As the probabilistic bunch would say.

 

[FlyingTexan]

Whoever told them this was going to be nothing more than a tech demonstrator should be fired. If anything Apple should focus very hard on things like engineering and medical uses then charge $15k each to subsidize research into more practical models for the non-pro user.

 

[deaglecat]

The main issue with AVP is the diversion of engineering resource.

That mis-allocation of valuable talent be felt in the Apple product line for years to come...long after AVP is dead and buried.

 

[Vulkan]

Your use case was maps??

No, Maps was just one example. We had multiple use cases that I can't go into but I can say it failed miserably.

 

[BaldiMac]

It's hilarious that we have to go through the same "analysis" with every Apple product launch. They ramp up production to meet initial demand and then a few months later they scale it back. Analysts claim that this means that the product isn't meeting expectations. Rinse. Repeat.

 

[NT1440]

It's hilarious that we have to go through the same "analysis" with every Apple product launch. They ramp up production to meet initial demand and then a few months later they scale it back. Analysts claim that this means that the product isn't meeting expectations. Rinse. Repeat.

Usually you have to wait for the yearly iphone scale back doom and gloom report. I got sick of people not picking up the pattern of the same "news" story every year. So somewhere on this site I have post outlining with screenshots and links how it happens every. single. year. I went chronologically. I'm not sure where that would be but maybe the next time the same story makes the rounds I'll dig it up.

 

[Jarrodbcall]

Number 3 as you’ve described it isn’t how it was for the iPod or iPhone. The economies of scale or BOM didn’t prevent Apple from offering the iPod or iPhone at sane, attainable-to-most pricing. Nor does it speak to the value proposition. The capabilities obtained in exchange for the price of the original iPhone far exceeds the value proposition of the AVP. Can we also remember that it’s being reported that Apple expects a YoY decline in AVP sales. Is that how it went for iPod or iPhone? That’s the exact opposite of the desired trajectory.

I remember the original iphone and ipod as being pretty expensive for what they offered, though both of these quickly lowered the price and added features. I think the AVP is more extreme than either of these, though, and I doubt it will reduce price/improve capabilities quite as fast. I really want AVP to succeed based on the idea, but it's gotta move toward that faster than I expect it will for that to be a reality.

 

[Jetscreamer]

But I still want to look like a VisionBro when driving.

 

[mslilyelise]

I mean, I love how far the device pushes immersive computing as a medium, and I think there’s a lot of
potential there, but it needs to be faster, more fluid and seamless, and cheaper. I know Apple as a brand attracts a lot of buyers who are better heeled than most of us, but $3700 for an experimental toy is just not reasonable even for the wealthy in the middle of an economic downturn. But I hope they go back to the drawing board having learned this and can build something better and more useful.

 

[maxoakland]

I mean, I love how far the device pushes immersive computing as a medium, and I think there’s a lot of
potential there, but it needs to be faster, more fluid and seamless, and cheaper. I know Apple as a brand attracts a lot of buyers who are better heeled than most of us, but $3700 for an experimental toy is just not reasonable even for the wealthy in the middle of an economic downturn. But I hope they go back to the drawing board having learned this and can build something better and more useful.

I think it was a fundamental mistake to base the OS on iPadOS instead of MacOS

 

[MechaVice]

Overpriced and overhyped for sure. All Apple did was take an existing product type and improved materials and hardware to a degree over the competition, yet charged a ridiculous premium like we're sheep to be fleeced for the Apple leadership team's bonuses and its shareholders.

Not just an existing product type. But an existing product type that people are largely indifferent to or straight-up hostile to. They have the their work cut out for them in selling not just the AVP, but also in convincing people they should use any VR/AR/mixed-reality headset.

The iPod, iPhone, Macbook, and iPad were not the first of their product type either, but they were marked improvements on their predecessors. The first three were superlative versions of things people were already buying (mp3 players, cell phones, and laptops). Tablets were more niche, but Apple was able to get more people to adopt them, with the iPad. I assume the Apple Watch's trajectory is similar to the iPad, but I've never used one and didn't really follow it's progress.

 

[2fifty6]

I paid $899 for my Mac when I was making $12.5k as a grad student. It was worth it to me. How you spend money is a personal decision. If I didn't think it was worthwhile I wouldn't have spent it.

Every single decision you make in life can change the outcome. As the probabilistic bunch would say.

Very true indeed. I had been seriously thinking of getting a Vision Pro around launch day. I bought an engagement ring instead. I can already tell that I will always look back on this decision and know that I chose well.

 

[garotemonkey]

I think it was a fundamental mistake to base the OS on iPadOS instead of MacOS

F$*%*# absolutely. Absolutely, 100 percent. This is a course-correction that they are going to need to make.

This thing is a business tool; a research and engineering tool. It's a giant heap of complicated sensors, a massive amount of display, and a huge heap of computing power. It's got their freaking desktop-class CPU in it. And I would be all over if, and I would even pay the price they want, if I could buy this thing, pair up my keyboard and mouse, and LEAVE MY LAPTOP BEHIND.

At that point $3500 would sound downright reasonable, considering how much I paid for the laptop ... and the display, and the docking station, and the headphones, and this giant desk.

But instead we've got this ultra-nerfed worse-than-the-iPad app collection, and this playskool my-first-display method of window management, rendering a potentially 360-degree screen nearly useless. And absolutely no terminal, no on-device development tools... It has such a long, loooong way to go software-wise before I could do anything useful with it, that all I can say right now is, why bother?

To be perfectly frank - and this is indicative of how much the tables have turned - MICROSOFT would do a BETTER JOB with this.

 

[tekipaki]

Apple needs a Steve Jobs or Elon Musk type (minus the nutjob aspect of the latter).

Steve Jobs went years eating nothing but fruit and was quite an eccentric fellow by all accounts. A brilliant man, but definitely a bit of a nutjob in his own respect. And then there’s Elon Musk, who supports free speech online, which qualifies as a nut job in 2024 I suppose. 🙄 Lord help us.

 

[vipergts2207]

Steve Jobs went years eating nothing but fruit and was quite an eccentric fellow by all accounts. A brilliant man, but definitely a bit of a nutjob in his own respect. And then there’s Elon Musk, who supports free speech online, which qualifies as a nut job in 2024 I suppose. 🙄 Lord help us.

Sure bud, supporting “free speech online” is the issue. 🙄

 

[tekipaki]

Sure bud, supporting “free speech online” is the issue. 🙄

I respect the guy and what he’s done for humanity. But I get it, he’s persona non grata to many people now because of his purchase of Twitter and politics around that. I know a guy irl who praised Musk up and down and was a huge Tesla fan, but then seemingly overnight flip flopped on him. People just need to grow up and stop being so easily offended and manipulated. If a guy defending free speech and posting edgy memes offends a person, then they really need to do some soul searching.

I’m just much more interested lately in seeing what visionaries like Musk are bringing to the table than anything being done by Apple. I was here last year saying that the AVP was a half baked product and would fail on arrival, and I was told I was a hater and everyone said the same about the iPhone, iPad, blah blah. Here we are many weeks after launch and still nobody can articulate WHY anyone would ever need this thing. If this is the best Apple has to offer for new product categories, then it may be time for a course correction with top management.

 

[DaPhox]

Sure bud, supporting “free speech online” is the issue. 🙄

Whats wrong Pal?

 

[vipergts2207]

I respect the guy and what he’s done for humanity. But I get it, he’s persona non grata to many people now because of his purchase of Twitter and politics around that. I know a guy irl who praised Musk up and down and was a huge Tesla fan, but then seemingly overnight flip flopped on him. People just need to grow up and stop being so easily offended and manipulated. If a guy defending free speech and posting edgy memes offends a person, then they really need to do some soul searching.

I’m just much more interested lately in seeing what visionaries like Musk are bringing to the table than anything being done by Apple. I was here last year saying that the AVP was a half baked product and would fail on arrival, and I was told I was a hater and everyone said the same about the iPhone, iPad, blah blah. Here we are many weeks after launch and still nobody can articulate WHY anyone would ever need this thing. If this is the best Apple has to offer for new product categories, then it may be time for a course correction with top management.

Whats wrong Pal?

At least one of you has the excuse of being new here, but I’m not going to join you in derailing the thread with politics. I’ve been put in forum jail enough times. I certainly won’t stop you though, so go off sis.

Now regarding the AVP and Apple in general, I’d love to see a change in top management.