Apple Cornering Market on Premium Headset Components, Disney's Troubles Grow, Apple’s Leverage Against Disney
Hello everyone. We kick things off with Neil’s thoughts on how competitors may struggle going up against Vision Pro from a hardware perspective due to Apple’s supply chain actions. The discussion then turns to Disney and the growing list of issues plaguing the company. The situation is creating a dynamic that be considered advantageous to Apple.
Apple Cornering Market on Premium Headset Components
As reports of severe Vision Pro supply constraints continue to be digested, there is a corollary found with the news that hasn’t received much attention.
Competitors face an uphill battle to even assemble the supply chain, components, and partners that would be needed to produce a headset that can go up against Vision Pro. Yesterday’s discussion touched upon this briefly when talking about Vision Pro’s supply issues likely not representing much of an opening for competitors in 2024.
There are already two examples that we can point to. (This likely won't be the exhaustive list):
OLEDoS (two displays are found in Vision Pro – one for each eye). Sony is reportedly the only company supplying the postage stamp-sized OLED on Silicon displays. The lack of production capacity is said to be a major factor for Vision Pro supply constraints.
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App Store Turns 15, Head of Google's AR Software Quits, Vision Pro’s Influence Already Being Felt
Hello everyone. Happy Tuesday. We kick things off with Neil’s thoughts on the App Store turning 15 years old. The discussion then turns to Mark Lucovsky, who led Google’s AR software efforts, quitting Google in a very public way. We conclude with how the Apple Vision Pro unveiling has already impacted the AR/VR market.
App Store Turns 15
Yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of Apple launching the App Store.
Five years ago, we recapped the App Store’s trajectory at the 10-year mark. A year prior, Apple had announced a major redesign to the App Store that included the Today, Games, and Apps tabs. Apple also unveiled the App Store’s editorial direction.
For today’s discussion, it’s worth looking at the major App Store developments that have materialized over the past five years.
Apple Arcade. After a few strategy shifts and changes, Apple landed on what has been Apple Arcade's current strategy of being more of an essential service grabbing subscriber time and attention (versus having games that subscribers would play when they had a few minutes of down time). The 100-game soft ceiling was expanded to more than 200 games (with no advertising or in-app purchases). The higher game total also reflected Apple including older iOS games with a proven track record of market success in the service.
Advertising. By expanding Apple Search Ads
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Samsung Announces Foldables Event in Seoul, Foldables in 2023, Samsung Rethinks Headset Approach
Hello everyone. Welcome to a new week. Today’s update will have a Samsung theme. We begin with Neil’s thoughts on Samsung announcing its first Unpacked event in South Korea. The announcement caught Neil’s attention for a few reasons. The discussion then turns to the current state of foldables in 2023. We conclude with Samsung reportedly rethinking its headset approach after seeing Apple Vision Pro.
Let’s jump right in.
Samsung Announces Foldables Event in Seoul
“Samsung Electronics will hold its Galaxy Unpacked event in Seoul at the end of July, to introduce its latest foldable smartphones, the company said Wednesday.
According to the company, the 27th Galaxy Unpacked event will be held at the COEX convention center in southern Seoul, which will be the first Unpacked event in Korea. Though Samsung did not officially announce the name of the products, it is expected that the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and the Z Fold 5 foldable smartphones will be unveiled at the event.
Samsung began holding Galaxy Unpacked in March 2010 with the unveiling of the first Galaxy S Model in Las Vegas and has since held the unveiling events in major cities around the world, including New York, San Francisco, London, Berlin and Barcelona…
Speaking about why it decided to hold the event on its home soil for the first time, Samsung said it aims to assure the world of its pride as the originator of foldable smartphones at a time when Chinese rivals and Google have also been launching foldable products.
‘Since the company first introduced foldable smartphones in 2019, it has been improving the perfection of foldable smartphones and growing the market every year. As a result, we've seen that latecomers are joining the market. Under these circumstances, Samsung plans to unveil a new foldable product in Korea to make its pride as a foldable originator clear to the world,’ Samsung said."
This announcement caught my attention for a few reasons.
Samsung has relied on a revolving host city strategy for the past 13 years of Unpacked product unveilings. While there was never an obvious direct theme between the Samsung products being announced and the location where the products were unveiled, one could have made the connection of Samsung hosting events where it wanted to make the most (cultural) impact. Up to now, that has primarily been the U.S. and Europe.
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Tesla 2Q23 Deliveries, Ford’s EV Strategy, Doug Field’s Odd Interview With the AP
Hello everyone. For today’s update, we will take a spin through the EV space. While headsets have grabbed the attention in recent months, the EV industry continues to evolve in an effort to find itself. We begin with Neil’s thoughts on Tesla’s latest deliveries numbers. The discussion then turns to Ford’s EV strategy, including quite the odd interview from Doug Field regarding Ford’s transition to EVs.
Let’s jump right in.
Tesla 2Q23 Deliveries
In a press release issued on Sunday, here’s Tesla:
“In the second quarter, we produced nearly 480,000 vehicles and delivered over 466,000 vehicles.”
Here are Tesla's 2Q23 deliveries broken out by model:
Analysts were expecting Tesla to report 445,000 deliveries in 2Q23 so 466,000 is a 5% beat to consensus. In 2Q22, Tesla deliveries were constrained due to COVID lockdowns in China. Backing out that one-time impact, Tesla deliveries were up around 45%. Given recent questions surrounding demand, that will be considered a good growth number.
The following chart shows delivery growth on a year-over-year basis (using a trailing twelve months basis).
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More Smoke for Apple Vision Pro Production Issues, Goldman Sachs Looking For Way out of Apple Partnership
Hello everyone. It's good to be back after a long weekend. We will kick off this holiday-shortened week with two news stories that appeared on Neil’s radar. The update begins with Neil’s thoughts on the latest news from the Apple Vision Pro supply chain. Odds are increasing that we won’t know Vision Pro demand for quite some time after launch. The discussion then turns to Goldman Sachs reportedly looking to get out of its Apple partnership which raised various implications for Apple.
More Smoke for Apple Vision Pro Production Issues
“Apple has been forced to make drastic cuts to production forecasts for the mixed-reality Vision Pro headset, unveiled last month after seven years in development and hailed as its most significant product launch since the iPhone.
The complexity of the headset design and difficulties in production are behind the scaling back of targets, while plans for a more affordable version of the device have had to be pushed back, according to multiple people with direct knowledge of the manufacturing process...
Two people close to Apple and Luxshare, the Chinese contract manufacturer that will initially assemble the device, said it was preparing to make fewer than 400,000 units in 2024. Multiple industry sources said Luxshare was currently Apple’s only assembler of the device. Separately, two China-based sole suppliers of certain components for the Vision Pro said Apple was only asking them for enough for 130,000 to 150,000 units in the first year.”
The FT’s report adds credibility to TheElec’s report from last month which said Sony will be able to produce enough OLEDoS (OLED on Silicon) for about 450,000 headsets. Each headset contains two postage stamp-sized OLEDoS displays (one for each eye).
The ~450,000 headsets per year figure didn’t appear to include any impact from yield issues or other manufacturing difficulties. With those issues in mind, a more realistic supply figure would be
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AAPL Valuation Metrics, Apple's Improving Valuation, Apple Close to $3 Trillion Market Cap (Again)
Hello everyone. The update kicks off with an examination of AAPL valuation metrics (forward P/E, EV/FCF, and free cash flow yield). We then go over Neil’s thoughts on why Apple’s valuation metrics have improved so dramatically in recent months. The discussion goes over Apple getting close to a $3 trillion market cap for the second time.
Let's jump into today's update.
AAPL Valuation Metrics
The AAPL roller coaster continues.
When we last talked about AAPL valuation at the beginning of the year, shares were on a down trend (-28% from all-time highs put in January 2022). Since that update was published, AAPL shares are up a whopping 45%. These are large, although not entirely unusual, moves for such a mega cap stock.
For today’s valuation exercise, it's prudent to run with a forward EPS estimate (earnings for the next 12 months) of approximately $6.00. With Apple shares trading at $189, the company’s forward price-to-earnings ratio (current stock price / forward EPS) is 32x. This is up significantly from the beginning of 2023 when shares were trading at a 20x forward multiple. It’s not the easiest exercise to compare the current forward multiple to historical averages given that we are relying on forward estimates and not reported figures. With that said, a 32x forward multiple would be close to all-time highs for Apple in the modern era. Shares had gotten close to the level in the summer of 2020 as shares made a major move higher prior to significant EPS growth which subsequently brought forward multiples down.
To put the 32x forward multiple in context, we compare Apple to various sectors and the overall market using the S&P 500 as a proxy.
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Apple Makes “Silo” Episode Free on Twitter, Google Cancels AR Glasses Project, YouTube Testing Playables Games Service
Happy Wednesday. We kick things off with Neil’s thoughts on Apple making the first episode of “Silo” for free on Twitter. Our attention then turns to Google cancelling its AR glasses project to focus on SW partnerships. The strategy doesn’t make any sense to Neil. We conclude with Google looking to give gaming another shot.
Let’s jump into today’s update.
Apple Makes “Silo” Episode Free on Twitter
Yesterday, Apple surprised many people by making the first episode of “Silo” available for free on Twitter. “Silo” is a science fiction drama that Apple picked up in May 2021 for Apple TV+. The first season began to stream last month.
From Apple's website: “‘Silo’ is the story of the last ten thousand people on earth, their mile-deep home protecting them from the toxic and deadly world outside. However, no one knows when or why the silo was built and any who try to find out face fatal consequences.”
In the past, Apple has used Twitter for some unconventional Apple TV marketing. The premier episode of “The Afterparty” was made available in early 2022 via a live watch party given limits on video upload lengths. The Apple TV team may have been wanting to do something like release a full episode directly on Twitter for some time. Twitter only recently allowed the ability to upload long video uploads. Apple may have also seen an opportunity to make big waves by being one of the first to try something like this.
Making the full first episode of "Silo" available for free on Twitter is timed not only to coincide with the season finale hitting on Friday, but also the series recently being renewed for a second season. Getting more people hooked onto the series now will generate continued interest in Apple TV+ when the new season goes live down the road.
This is a clever move by Apple.
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How Apple Leverages Product Branding, Making Vision Pro Cool
Hello everyone. Yesterday’s discussion about headset adoption piqued Neil’s interest in Apple’s branding opportunity with Vision Pro and the idea of how to sell "coolness" for the face. Before we get to that discussion, there was one branding-related item worth touching upon in content streaming land.
Last week, we talked about Warner Bros. Discovery looking to license HBO shows to Netflix. In the forum, one member shared a different view than mine. Warner Bros. Discovery can license its less premium content to Netflix, which lacks a premium brand. “Netflix’s cash is used to strengthen their [mass market] positioning, something Max can be OK with as Netflix has seemingly cemented its massmarket segment dominance while Max is showing no ambitions to steer away from premium programming. Max can then use the extra cashflow [from Netflix] to pour it into its premium content and further boost its premium-mass market brand.” You can check out the full comment here.
Such a view makes sense to me in a world where Warner Bros. Discovery didn't have its own paid streaming option. If the concern is found with Max containing premium and non-premium content brands, one option is for Warner Bros. Discovery to offer three different streaming services (Discovery $5 per month / Warner $10 per month / HBO $20 per month) with an attractive package discount when getting all three. While this will jeopardize near-term revenue, it helps the company's long-term direct-to-consumer relationships.
How Apple Leverages Product Branding
Apple has a long history of leveraging product branding to strengthen its ecosystem. The classic white wired EarPods hanging out of one’s ears went on to define a generation of consumer electronics. In recent years, Apple has doubled down on the product branding strategy. The following examples have anchored Apple commercials, advertisements, and marketing.
iPhone
Home button (still found with the iPhone SE)
iPhone X notch
iPhone 14 Pro / Pro Max Dynamic Island
iPhone back camera layout
Apple Watch
Rectangular display
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The Vision Pro Bet, Zuckerberg’s Miscalculation, A New Normal for Headsets
Hello everyone. Happy Monday.
One follow-up to a story from last week.
As pointed out to me by a member, the visionOS VR restriction regarding a 1.5-meter "system boundary," as measured from the initial position of the Vision Pro wearer's head, isn’t that strict considering it’s a radius (i.e. a 10ft x 10ft space). That’s larger than what most would deem acceptable for VR in today's marketplace.
Let's jump unto today's update.
The Vision Pro Bet
There were three broad tracks available to Apple with AR/VR headsets in mind:
Begin at the low end with a pair of light/thin/inexpensive glasses and then work their way up the performance/feature/price curve.
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Apple Releases visionOS SDK, Creating Spatial Experiences, Apple’s Developer Advantage
Hello everyone. We are getting our first look at the visionOS software development kit (SDK). Developers are now able to give visionOS a spin in a simulated environment via Reality Composer (macOS and iOS apps).
One reason Apple unveiled Vision Pro at WWDC was to give developers time to develop apps ahead of the headset’s release in early 2024 (my expectation: March/April 2024). Today's update will focus on the SDK and a few points regarding app development.
Apple Releases visionOS SDK
In a press release issued yesterday, here’s Apple:
“Apple today announced the availability of new software tools and technologies that enable developers to create groundbreaking app experiences for Apple Vision Pro — Apple’s first spatial computer. Featuring visionOS, the world’s first spatial operating system, Vision Pro lets users interact with digital content in their physical space using the most natural and intuitive inputs possible — their eyes, hands, and voice. Starting today, Apple’s global community of developers will be able to create an entirely new class of spatial computing apps that take full advantage of the infinite canvas in Vision Pro and seamlessly blend digital content with the physical world to enable extraordinary new experiences. With the visionOS SDK, developers can utilize the powerful and unique capabilities of Vision Pro and visionOS to design brand-new app experiences across a variety of categories including productivity, design, gaming, and more.
Next month, Apple will open developer labs in Cupertino, London, Munich, Shanghai, Singapore, and Tokyo to provide developers with hands-on experience to test their apps on Apple Vision Pro hardware and get support from Apple engineers. Development teams will also be able to apply for developer kits to help them quickly build, iterate, and test right on Apple Vision Pro.”
One takeaway from this year’s WWDC and the Vision Pro demo was that Apple has something big on its hands, and they know it. Part of that observation relates to Apple’s well-thought-out and comprehensive approach to getting Vision Pro off the ground. This includes everything from a well-orchestrated demo strategy for members of the press, an SDK for developers, and what will eventually be consumer demos at Apple stores. We now have new information about Apple opening developer labs around the world and making developer HW kits available to some teams/companies. This is not a trivial launch effort for some niche product that Apple isn’t sure about. Instead, Apple is all-on on Vision Pro as its next computing platform.
In a new document published yesterday alongside the visionOS SDK, meant to help developers approach visionOS, Apple went over many details as to how it expects the platform to be used. The full document is available here.
A few highlights:
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Spotify Earnings, Spotify Planning Supremium Tier, Warner Bros. Discovery Looking to License HBO Content to Netflix
Happy Wednesday. For today's update, we will take a spin through content streaming land.
Spotify Earnings
Back at the end of April, Spotify reported 1Q23 earnings.
Spotify management's narrative changing yet again. There is increased emphasis on paid subscriber growth and the impact it will have (eventually) on profitability. Although Spotify has never been shy talking about user growth since the company needs as many users as possible for its advertising ambition to materialize, premium subscriptions didn't receive as much attention in recent years.
As for what is driving the narrative change, Spotify’s premium sub growth numbers continue to be very strong. The company added 5M premium subs last quarter (bringing the total to 210M). Spotify earns most of its revenue (89%) from premium subscriptions.
Here is my go-to quarterly exhibit tracking Spotify subscriber trends:
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The Talk Show at WWDC, Apple CEO Succession
Happy Tuesday. The discussion kicks off with Neil’s thoughts on John Gruber's live episode of ‘The Talk Show’ at WWDC. We then revisit the topic of Apple CEO succession. Let’s jump right into today’s update.
The Talk Show at WWDC
For the past decade, Daring Fireball's John Gruber has recorded a live episode of his 'The Talk Show' podcast during WWDC in California. The show has become something of a WWDC keynote reaction event where Apple executives discuss additional detail and perspective on new features and products that were announced.
Over the weekend, I was able to watch this year’s show. A video of the 2-hour talk is available here (via YouTube). Guests included:
John Ternus (SVP Hardware Engineering)
Mike Rockwell (VP Technology Development Group)
Craig Federighi (SVP Software Engineering)
Greg Joswiak (SVP Worldwide Marketing)
Based on what was discussed at WWDC, and The Talk Show’s audience makeup, there were no major surprises found with the guest list. Joswiak and Federighi are regulars on the WWDC show. Joswiak excels at this format, hitting those Apple marketing points in a down-to-earth approach while adding the right amount of humor.
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How Vision Pro Can Impact Apple’s Other Products
Hello everyone. We are going to do something different today. One topic that has been on Neil’s mind the past 10 days or so is how Vision Pro can impact Apple’s ecosystem. After just a few minutes using Vision Pro, it became clear that this device was going to encroach on iPhone, iPad, and Mac use cases. Current Apple devices feel dated compared to Vision Pro. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Apple’s other product categories have expiration days. In today’s update, we will explore that topic.
How Vision Pro Can Impact Apple’s Other Products
Watching the WWDC keynote, one thing that jumped out at me was how Apple positioned its software platforms and product categories. There was a prevailing theme / focus found with each category:
Apple Watch / watchOS = health/fitness
iPhone / iOS = communication/identity
iPad / iPadOS = versatility
Mac / macOS = performance
AirPods = audio
tvOS = video consumption
Those focus areas aren’t a new development for WWDC 2023. Apple has spent years laying the groundwork for giving each of its product categories key roles to play that other Apple products aren’t in a great position to handle.
The Apple Watch is one of the easier examples to discuss.
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Apple Acquires AR Headset Maker Mira, Vision Pro Supply Constraints, Apple and Disney M&A Chatter Grows
Hello everyone. We will talk about three Apple-related news items that came out in the past week.
Apple Acquires AR Headset Maker Mira
“Apple has acquired Mira, a Los Angeles-based AR startup that makes headsets for other companies and the US military, according to a posts from the CEO’s private Instagram account yesterday seen by The Verge and a person familiar with the matter. Apple confirmed the acquisition.
The news comes just one day after Apple unveiled the Vision Pro, a $3,499 mixed reality headset that the company has billed as a new ‘spatial’ computing platform. It’s unclear how much Apple paid for Mira, which raised about $17 million in funding to date. Jony Ive, Apple’s former design chief, was an advisor to the startup at one point, according to two former employees who requested anonymity to speak without the company’s permission.
Apple sent The Verge its typical statement it gives when it buys a company: ‘Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.’”
This has all the makings of being primarily a talent acquisition. It is certainly possible that Apple also got its hands on some patents. However, Mira’s focus on being a design-led, scrappy startup piecing together smartphone components and $15 fish bowls to come up with an AR headset with a visor-like shield speaks more to ingenuity and ideas being their most valuable asset.
Mira’s CEO and co-founder, Ben Taft, is all-in on AR while showing heavy skepticism of the metaverse/VR.
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Apple's WWDC 2023 Keynote (Granular Observations)
Happy Tuesday.
We will wrap up our analysis and discussion of the WWDC keynote. Yesterday, we went over the larger takeaways from the keynote. In today's update, we will focus on granular items that jumped out at Neil attending and watching the keynote.
Let's jump right in.
Keynote Structure
Layout. This year’s WWDC keynote structure was close to my expectations. Apple had a jam-packed presentation containing software updates across its ecosystem, new Mac hardware, and a “One more thing” for Apple Vision Pro.
Having a digital presentation helped Apple tremendously as the company was able to fit in a lot of information in its preferred two-hour time slot. A live presentation takes up time when considering speakers walking on and off stage, audience applause, and the overall time drain known as onstage demos. (It is interesting how companies like Google have gone back to live presentations for keynotes. That ship has sailed for Apple.)
Target Audience. The WWDC keynote is aimed at developers since it kicks off Apple’s multi-day developers conference. The opening video and Cook’s monologue in the beginning set the stage. This doesn’t mean that the keynote is structured just for developers' interest - that's what the Platforms State of the Union presentation is for. Instead, the WWDC keynote is aimed at informing those in the Apple ecosystem of what to expect in the next year (from a software development perspective).
Priorities. This year’s WWDC keynote was 126 minutes long, roughly 20 minutes longer than prior virtual WWDC keynotes.
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The Lack of “AI” at WWDC, Revisiting Apple’s Identity Network, iPhone StandBy, Mac HW Updates
Hello everyone. Welcome to a new week.
We will focus on the major takeaways from Apple’s WWDC keynote (not including Vision Pro which we discussed last week).
Let’s jump in.
The Lack of “AI” at WWDC
In what doesn’t come as a surprise, Apple didn’t mention “AI” once during the WWDC keynote. According to CNET, Google said “AI” 143 times during its I/O keynote. That's a little more than one AI mention per minute. In addition to "AI," Google said “Bard” 42 times, “PaLM” 35 times, and “Generative” 30 times.
The lack of AI mentions in the WWDC keynote was intentional on Apple’s part. Every slide shown at an Apple event is there for a reason. Words, images, and videos are debated, chosen, and reviewed.
There are two primary reasons for the lack of “AI” in Apple’s keynotes:
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The Challenge Selling Vision Pro, Vision Pro Competition, Vision Pro Q&A
Hello everyone. We kick things off with a big challenge Apple will face selling Apple Vision Pro. The discussion then turns to Vision Pro competition and the degree to which Neil thinks Apple’s headset will impact the AR/VR/mixed reality industries. We conclude with Neil answering 11 questions from members about his 30-minute Vision Pro demo.
Let’s jump in.
The Challenge Selling Vision Pro
One takeaway from my 30-minutes with Vision Pro was that Apple will have an easier time selling the headset if consumers can experience a demo. The presentation that Apple showed during the WWDC keynote – the company also released a 9-minute video overview - didn’t come close to conveying what it’s like using the device. Trying to explain spatial computing in 2D terms has been a problem for years.
Apple can’t demo Vision Pro on stage. This is not like an iPhone, iPad, or even Apple Watch. That is a challenge for Apple.
Since Apple needed to come up with some type of marketing for the device, the company landed on relatable scenarios and use cases that they think people can see themselves in or doing.
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The “Why” Behind Apple Vision Pro, Apple Revolutionizes Memories, Vision Pro Pricing Strategy
Hello everyone. There is a slight change of plans. Yesterday’s update led to the largest number of incoming emails from members following an update in years. Accordingly, we are going to keep running with the Vision Pro discussion. Neil spent about 30 minutes using Apple Vision Pro. The technology powering the device is the future. We will get to the rest of Apple’s WWDC announcements.
A few quick items:
A virtual member meetup took place this past Monday in the Above Avalon team in Slack. The value found with having it take place in Slack is that people can still add to the discussions that took place. If you haven't checked the meetup out, look in the #random channel. The start of the meetup is pinned / shaded in a yellow hue.
Vision Pro sound quality. Yesterday’s discussion didn’t include any mention of Neil’s audio experience using Vision Pro. The headset includes a pair of speakers, positioned in the head strap and angled towards the wearer’s ears. The sound quality was very good. Just as important, there was no issue hearing other people in the room while something was playing via the headset. It’s not known what someone seated next to an Apple Vision Pro wearer can hear though.
Q&A. Have questions about Apple Vision Pro? Send them Neil’s way and they can be addressed tomorrow. There has already been a decent number of questions posted in the member forum (they will be covered).
The “Why” Behind Apple Vision Pro
It’s a positive sign for Apple that those who were among the first to try out Vision Pro have landed on different things as their “favorite” experience. Some people say the mindfulness app was what opened their eyes (the word trippy came to mind with that app). Others say the live sports consumption implications jumped out at them. There isn’t one right or wrong answer. Depending on the wearers’ personality, likes, interests, and perspective, different things will jump out at them. The era in which one thing is a “killer app” for everyone ended years ago.
There are still important questions left unanswered: Why sell Vision Pro? What is the device’s purpose?
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My Thoughts After Using Apple Vision Pro
With this year’s WWDC review, we are going to do something different. Today’s update will focus on the big news: Apple Vision Pro. In particular, we will go over Neil’s time using Apple’s first headset. Neil spent about 30 minutes using Apple Vision Pro. The technology powering the device is the future.
Everything else that Apple announced yesterday was important as it pertains to today’s ecosystem. We will talk about those updates on Thursday using a traditional big picture takeaways framework. There will be a follow-up tomorrow to today’s headset discussion as Neil’s notes were too long to fit in one update. In particular, we will talk about the “why” behind Vision Pro.
Let’s jump right in.
My Thoughts After Using Apple Vision Pro
With Apple Vision Pro, Apple has something big on its hands, and they know it. This is not a developer kit. It’s not an enterprise-only device. Apple Vision Pro is a new-age, wearable computer for consumers. We have not seen anything like it before. After using Apple Vision Pro for just a few minutes, it became clear this where the future is found. You don’t want to stop using the device. Apple Vision Pro makes the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and even Apple Watch feel like dated technology.
The question isn’t what people will use this technology for, but rather what won’t be handled by this in the future.
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(Members: Daily Updates are always accessible by logging into Slack. If you haven’t logged into Slack before, fill out this form to receive an invite.)
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Payment is processed and secured by Stripe. Apple Pay and other mobile payment options are accepted. Special Inside Orchard bundle pricing is available for Above Avalon members.
More information about Above Avalon membership, including the full list of benefits and privileges, is available here.
Google I/O 2023
Hello everyone. Welcome to June.
Virtual Member Meetup on Monday. Following the WWDC keynote, there will be a virtual member meetup in the member forum in Slack on Monday at 5:30 pm ET / 2:30 pm PT. Hopefully that time will also allow some members in Europe to join. This meet-up will provide an opportunity for members to have conversations in real-time about everything that was announced. In addition to participating in the discussion myself, I moderate the discussion topics etc. The discussions are then made available afterwards for other members to read through in Slack.
Above Avalon Report. With Apple widely expected to unveil its first headset on Monday, my expectations for the device are found in the Above Avalon Report "Apple's Reality (Headset) Plans" published back on April 12th. You can read the report here. An audio version of the report is also available via the Above Avalon Reports podcast (part of the podcast add-on).
Today’s update will be focused on the Google I/O 2023 keynote. In addition to covering Neil’s thoughts on the keynote, the discussion goes over the weakest/strongest points of the presentation as well as the oddest parts. Given the discussion’s length, Spotify earnings was pushed off. We will circle back to Spotify post-WWDC.
Let’s jump right in.
Google I/O 2023
Google held its developer conference in mid-May. Like Apple’s WWDC keynote, Google’s I/O keynote (available here for viewing via YouTube) is geared toward consumers, developers, and the press. The company then held more developer-focused presentations afterwards.
While Google unveiled AI-driven features in prior years, the difference found with this year’s Google I/O keynote is that it took place in the shadows of ChatGPT and Microsoft's AI push. One got the sense that Google felt insecure about the AI attention being given to others. It was hard to ignore the “we are actually the AI leader” tone emulating throughout the presentation. The thing is, very little that was shown on stage struck me as “only Google.” AI will be adopted by all of Big Tech – it already has been.
An Above Avalon membership is required to continue reading this update. Members can read the full update here. An audio version of this update is available to members who have the podcast add-on attached to their membership. More information about the podcast add-on is found here.
(Members: Daily Updates are always accessible by logging into Slack. If you haven’t logged into Slack before, fill out this form to receive an invite.)
Above Avalon Membership
Payment is processed and secured by Stripe. Apple Pay and other mobile payment options are accepted. Special Inside Orchard bundle pricing is available for Above Avalon members.
More information about Above Avalon membership, including the full list of benefits and privileges, is available here.