SAN FRANCISCO: US Apple stores on Friday will start selling the Vision Pro, the tech giant’s $3,499 headset and its first major release since the Apple Watch nine years ago.
Vision Pro’s release by the world’s most iconic device maker is a major milestone for the lovers of virtual or augmented reality, who see the technology as the next chapter in online life after the smartphone.
But with a high sticker price, and the middling success of similar and cheaper releases from Facebook owner Meta, early reviews are unconvincing that the Vision Pro will be a game-changer, at least initially.
The Vision Pro is an “astonishing” product, wrote The Verge, but “also represents a series of really big trade-offs” that are “impossible to ignore.”
It is “an impressive product, one that has been many years and billions of dollars in the making” but “even after trying it, I still have no idea whom or what this thing is supposed to be for,” wrote The New York Times.
Critics acknowledge a definite “wow” factor, noting its state-of-the-art image and the joy of opening and closing apps floating in space with your eyes and fingers.
However, the headset is heavy, messes up the user’s hair and requires a clunky battery pack, they add.
In a big promotional push, Apple CEO Tim Cook on Thursday appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair wearing the Vision Pro.
He drew criticism at a conference in June when he revealed the device without ever trying it on.
Apple refers to the Vision Pro as its first foray into “spatial computing,” refusing the term virtual reality, which is typically associated with tech geeks and gamers.
In ads, in addition to streaming movies, users are shown wearing the Vision Pro to work or chat with friends or toggle through apps.
Apple says there are 600 specifically designed apps and games available for the Vision Pro alongside one million compatible apps.
“These incredible apps will change how we experience entertainment, music, and games,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of worldwide developer relations.
Disney has partnered with Apple and will provide 150 3D movies at launch, the companies said.
Netflix, Spotify and Google for now have declined to modify their apps specifically for the headset.
The Vision Pro can be tested out by appointment in US Apple stores. That is because the device requires finely-tuned adjustments and some training as “most consumers don’t have experience with gesture controls,” Forrester Research wrote in a note.
According to analysts from Wedbush Securities, pre-orders have been strong and Apple should expect to sell about 600,000 units this year.
“For Apple the ultimate goal in our opinion is that Vision Pro will work alongside the iPhone and other Apple devices over the coming years,” said Dan Ives of Wedbush.
US Apple fans get hands on $3,500 Vision Pro
https://arab.news/4zxce
US Apple fans get hands on $3,500 Vision Pro
- Apple CEO Tim Cook on Thursday appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair wearing the Vision Pro
Arts festival’s decision to exclude Palestinian author spurs boycott
- A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival
SYDENY: A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author after the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as moves to curb antisemitism spur free speech concerns.
The shooting which killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Dec. 14 sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism. Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by Daesh.
The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite Randa Abdel-Fattah from February’s Writers Week in the state of South Australia because “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi.”
FASTFACTS
• Abdel-Fattah responded, saying it was ‘a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.’
• Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival.
Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
Among the boycotting authors, Kathy Lette wrote on social media the decision to bar Abdel-Fattah “sends a divisive and plainly discriminatory message that platforming Australian Palestinians is ‘culturally insensitive.'”
The Adelaide Festival said in a statement on Monday that three board members and the chairperson had resigned. The festival’s executive director, Julian Hobba, said the arts body was “navigating a complex moment.”
a complex and unprecedented moment” after the “significant community response” to the board decision.
In the days after the Bondi Beach attack, Jewish community groups and the Israeli government criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for failing to act on a rise in antisemitic attacks and criticized protest marches against Israel’s war in Gaza held since 2023.
Albanese said last week a Royal Commission will consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia. Albanese said on Monday he would recall parliament next week to pass tougher hate speech laws.
On Monday, New South Wales state premier Chris Minns announced new rules that would allow local councils to cut off power and water to illegally operating prayer halls.
Minns said the new rules were prompted by the difficulty in closing a prayer hall in Sydney linked to a cleric found by a court to have made statements intimidating Jewish Australians.
The mayor of the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield said the rules were ill-considered and councils should not be responsible for determining hate speech.
“Freedom of speech is something that should always be allowed, as long as it is done in a peaceful way,” Mayor Frank Carbone told Reuters.
