Apple says Vision Pro will only be available in Apple Stores
Drawing on reports from MIXED and UploadVR, Apple released its Q4 financial report for the fiscal year 2023 yesterday, followed by a teleconference where CEO Tim Cook addressed several inquiries from financial analysts, including queries regarding the spatial computing device Vision Pro.
When queried if the consumer education and distribution strategy for Vision Pro would mirror that of AirPods and Apple Watch—two of Apple’s more recent product lines—Tim Cook negated the comparison.
“There’s a tremendous amount of excitement around the Vision Pro. And we’ve been very happy to share it with developers and we have developer labs set up in different parts of the world so that they can actually get their hands on it and are working on apps, and I’ve been fortunate enough to see a number of those, and there’s some real blow-away kinds of things that are coming out, and so that all looks good.
To answer your question about, is it similar to AirPods or Apple Watch, I would say no. There’s never been a product like the Vision Pro, and so we’re purposely bringing it out in our stores only so we can really put a great deal of attention on the the last mile of it. We’ll be offering demos in the stores and it will be a very different process than a normal grab-and-go kind of process.”
Additionally, this strategy aligns closely with Mark Gurman’s June scoop that Apple planned to establish a dedicated space within Apple Stores for people to experience Vision Pro and select the headset components suited to them.
Given that the Vision Pro is indeed a distinctive product both in form and price point, Apple’s approach to enhancing the customer experience through this method is understandable. However, not all customers have ready access to an Apple Store, which may necessitate extra effort for some to purchase the device.
The Vision Pro will be priced at $3,499, with sales commencing early next year in the United States and expanding to additional countries and markets later in the year.
