I returned mine. It was amazing, but very uncomfortable like all other VR head units. I spent an entire workday in it. The next day got half way through the day before getting a massive headache. My neck was sore for a week following. Apple store employees said I wasn't the only one.

They need to focus on weight, them making it have the glass front+screen and being made of metal was a terrible idea.

>My neck was sore for a week following.

neither here nor there, and I know you didn't ask, but from one tech worker to another, this isn't normal and unless you had some condition before you should be addressing this with exercise.

How old are you? Once you get of a certain age, doing anything new or different to your body leaves it aching for a week.

You’re right that you address it with exercise though.

Where "a certain age" is no later than 30. Peaking physically at 25 is no exaggeration.

I’m in my middle fourties and I don’t have this issue.

Seems pretty normal after spending an entire day with a weight attached to your head? Your neck muscles obviously won’t be adapted to the additional load.

> you should be addressing this with exercise.

Oh 100%, not afraid to admit that! And it probably wasn't wise to just dive right into it without building up to all day use.

Given it already requires a battery tether, I can’t believe they didn’t put everything they could in the pack.

The front facing display also seems absolutely needless.

Not all VR head units. Check out the Bigscreen Beyond.

I'm not sure that's right. Apple launched the watch thinking "apps like iphone"

A few versions in, they settled on "watches are for health and fitness"

Ben Thompson discusses the AVP as an immersive iPad, and that's kind of the problem. It's too locked down to be my productivity device (something that could justifiably command a premium price), and my entertainment budget isn't that high for one person (I already have a tv in that price range - cheaper tbh - that's really really good)

And a TV can be viewed by other people at the same time. And you can get up and answer the door, or use the bathroom, or watch it out of the corner of your eye while you cook dinner.

Even watching the VR sports that they are trying to make happen, you'll be doing that alone. For a lot of people watching sports is a communal experience and you'll never get that with the Vision Pro.

The watch is a bit odd, though? It is, far and away, more of a fashion purchase than it is anything else.

Yes, I think it has some good uses for health/fitness. I can't bring myself to think it is the driver for people buying it.

> Yes, I think it has some good uses for health/fitness. I can't bring myself to think it is the driver for people buying it.

I think you're just mistaken, then. Health and fitness absolutely is the driver.

They tried to market it as a fashion purchase in v1, and then gave up on that. It can still be fun with different straps, but I don't know of anyone who considers it a fashion purchase.

I'm comfortable disagreeing here. Watches are, by and large, a fashion piece. Even without getting custom bands. To the point that it is not at all uncommon for people to have a watch on that is dead.

Happy to see data proving otherwise. I'm also more than willing to believe a lot of people will use some of the asserted benefits as a reason to justify getting the fashion item. But even the enthusiasts I know that get some of the health tracking rings and such drop off after a hilariously short honeymoon with the devices.

The only exception I have seen to this, so far, are active users that are more likely to have a garmin.

I think you're exactly right here. It's not that people don't think of it as a health device, and that probably helps sales via justification. But most people I know who have it, when asked, have no F-ing clue what about their health they're tracking.

And yeah, if you do care that much (amateur or pro athlete training) there's no way the A-watch is the primary device for you. Garmin is the king of the hill in that market.

I'm not sure you're wrong about "apple watch as fashion" (my gut is to disagree), but it's worth noting that apple greatly increased the size of the watch market.

That is to say: while they converted some existing watch wearers, they greatly expanded the market.

What I'm not certain of is "why". Fitness is an easy answer (that's something an apple watch does and my Seiko doesn't), but fashion is also a reasonable answer (apple is a premium brand)

I think the true answer might be "defaults are powerful"

Airpods are generally not the best sound quality you can buy, but they're well-integrated with the apple ecosystem. You can assume they'll just work. I would be surprised if they are a fashion piece, but I suspect their dominance looks similar to apple watch dominance

I am almost certainly presenting a stronger argument than I intend here. My assertion is that it is somewhat fashionable to wear a watch, and there is surprisingly little utility in it. Adding any utility is enough to get many to make the jump. (Note that this is very different than me only claiming the Apple Watch is a fashion item. Largely, my claim is ALL watches are fashion oriented.)

Do I think this is the only reason at all? Probably not. I will agree that there are certainly many people that do get it for the utility alone. Happy to see numbers going over any of this, of course. Mostly all I have to go on are anecdotes regarding Apple watches.

Charging $49.99 for each wrist band was a huge misstep in this regard. Yes, Apple does like charging high prices but the cognitive dissonance around the 'Apple Tax' is usually softened when people feel like they're getting a higher quality product than the competition. But with those wrist bands, I really don't feel like I'm getting a unique and special product for that price. If the bands were $19.99 I would have bought at least a few others. I just can't justify buying some silicone for $49.99.

garmin watches are so much better for that though.

Might not be the popular experience but for me there are some killer features I like the apple watch for, fashion isn't one of them.

The health and fitness stuff is nice, but more so for productivity it's nice. I never need to take my phone out of my pocket most days purely because notifications and phonecalls pop up in my watch.

More on the health and fitness front is that I can leave home with airpods and my watch and not be cut off from the world when I go out for a jog, previously I would need to deal with a holster for my phone.

The thing I generally miss the most when I don't have my Apple watch on, I can't lift my arm to look at the time or get today's date. And that leads me to want to go back to my old analogue watch.

Headphones for your eyes.

That's the product and its inevitable in some form or another. Its just too early

> Headphones for your eyes.

"I need a SinoLogic 16, Sogo-7 data gloves, a GPL stealth module, one Burdine intelligent translator, and Thomson eyephones."

People don't like stuff on their face. People wear contacts or get surgery to avoid wearing glasses. People don't like stuff on their face. I paid for college working in the eyeglass industry and it's nearly universal that people "wish they didn't have to wear glasses". People don't like stuff on their face.

> People don't like stuff on their face.

If there's one thing we were able to learn with 100% certainty over the last couple years, it is this. I still think it'll have to be transparent, or at least Google Glass like, to achieve mass adoption.

I didn't like headphones before AirPods. It might take a long time... maybe it's even a neuro plug at some point. I don't know but people will want to hijack their vision for sure.

Not the same. Many people have no problem wearing a hat either. Your _face_ is different. Maybe it's a biological protection mechanism, but _it is different_.

I think Apple gave it a clear purpose: productivity and media. Basically, it's a giant screen anywhere you go.

It's just not that useful, or alternatively way too expensive. But I think they communicated their theory pretty well.

- iPod: Steve Jobs had unilateral control over Apple

- iPhone: Steve Jobs had unilateral control over Apple

- iPad: Steve Jobs had unilateral control over Apple

Fixed that for you