Since the launch of Vision Pro, Apple has been striving to attract major software developers to create applications for this innovative cutting-edge headset device. However, the current situation of the Vision Pro ecosystem seems to be going against the grain.
Data shows that since its release in January, the pace of new app releases on Vision Pro has been slowing down. To date, some of the most successful VR software developers have not chosen to make apps for Vision Pro. And due to the lack of "killer apps", many Vision Pro users find the device's practicality greatly reduced and choose to sell it, which also leads to the second-hand market price of Vision Pro starting to plummet...
Bertrand Nepveu, who once worked on the development of Vision Pro at Apple, said, It's a chicken-or-egg problem.
According to data from Counterpoint Research, Meta is currently the strongest competitor for Apple, with a market share of up to 74% in all headset products in the second quarter of this year.
Last month, Meta released the latest headset device, Quest 3S - with performance between Quest 2 and Quest 3, and a starting price of only $299, such a low price is enough to attract a new wave of users. Meta also showcased its first AR glasses prototype product, Orion, which can display digital content in the real world on transparent lenses. Although Orion has not been officially launched for sale, its release has caused a warm response from analysts and enthusiasts.
The Ecosystem Is The First "Reality Check"?
When Apple launched Vision Pro, it actually adopted a bold experimental strategy: launching this product at an industry sky-high price of $3,499 before similar VR/AR products had been widely favored by consumers, betting that Vision Pro could open up an emerging industry that is still in its infancy.
However, it is clear that Vision Pro needs killer apps to become popular, and the success of the iPhone more than a decade ago was due to this. But so far, the ecosystem of Vision Pro has been developing slowly, and many developers are still waiting and seeing.
According to data from the analysis company Appfigures, the number of new apps launched on Vision Pro has noticeably decreased in recent months - the Vision App Store only launched 10 apps in September, far less than the hundreds of apps in the first two months after the device was launched.
The company estimates that as of September, there are about 1,770 apps available for Vision Pro on the App Store. Appfigures said that only 34% of the apps are specifically developed for Vision Pro, and the rest are versions of existing Apple apps, simply adding compatibility with Vision Pro.
This number is much less than the data provided by Apple. Apple once said in August that there are currently more than 2,500 apps developed for Vision Pro. In response to this, Appfigures said that part of the reason for the difference between the two numbers may be that some apps do not have enough usage to be registered on the usage ranking list, so it is difficult for analysis companies to track them.
Tim Bajarin, a long-term Apple analyst at Creative Strategies, said, We are now at a stage where the growth of Vision Pro apps may seem slow, but you must consider that those who are developing apps hope to create the best apps as much as possible. They are not in a hurry to push these apps to the market.
Comparing between devices, the development speed of the Vision Pro app ecosystem is obviously slower than that of the initial iPhone and Apple Watch. Nearly a year after the launch of the iPhone App Store in 2008, Apple had already stated that it had 50,000 apps. And the Apple Watch had 10,000 apps five months after it went on sale.
Compared with Vision Pro, these two devices have a lower starting price and are more attractive to ordinary consumers. At the same time, the technical difficulty of developing apps for Vision Pro is much higher than that of developing apps for many simple iPhones and smartwatches.
Resale Price Continues to Fall
Compared to headset manufacturers, Vision Pro's performance seems to be not ideal. Simon Carless, founder of GameDiscoverCo, a game consulting company, estimates that the Meta Quest store currently has about 3,500 apps. Carless said that the difference between the two platforms is that Quest is mainly a VR game ecosystem, trying to enter the AR content, while Vision Pro is first an AR platform.
Apple has not yet disclosed any sales data for Vision Pro, but analysts generally believe that the sales volume of this headset is not ideal. According to the famous Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in April this year, Apple has reduced the first-year shipment estimate for Vision Pro from 700,000 to 800,000 units to 400,000 to 450,000 units.
According to data from Counterpoint Research, Vision Pro's sales volume in the second quarter of this year plummeted by 80% compared to the first quarter. The research company said that a large part of the initial buyers returned the device within the two weeks allowing for a full refund by Apple.
Games are the most popular app category on Meta Quest, compared to Apple's positioning of Vision Pro as a broader device suitable for work, health, and entertainment. Vision Pro does not rely on controllers required by most games but uses hand-eye tracking technology to allow users to interact with software. The lack of controllers has hindered some game development for Vision Pro.
Due to the overall scarcity of Vision Pro apps, some early users find that there is nothing to do or play on the headset, leading them to return or resell their devices in advance.
In the past few months, the resale price of Vision Pro in the second-hand market has shown a plunge. On the overseas second-hand electronic product trading platform Swappa, the average second-hand price of Vision Pro, which is officially priced at $3,499, was only $2,494 in September, further lower than the $2,710 in August.
Rostyslav Alieksieienko, a 23-year-old software engineer who received his Vision Pro in February this year, said he tried everything he could do with it. Alieksieienko downloaded all the apps recommended by Apple and tried to use them for work. But he hardly found a reason to continue using it.
In the beginning, I was super excited, Alieksieienko said, but it didn't integrate into my life. I ran out of stuff to do quickly. Then it was just laying around.