[allenu]

> For one, it’s a way better recording device than what currently exists. > Another use case is getting rid of monitors and freeing up space on a desk. > I will be able to play board games with friends across the country

These don't feel like strong arguments for regular people, honestly. Is anyone clamoring for better recording of their kids' birthday parties? People can play board games online already. Is the uptake not great for that simply because you can't see a virtual avatar of your friends? I have a single monitor on my desk and I personally am not hurting that it's using up desk space. It's just not a real pain point.

All of the use cases Apple presented in their promos are undeniably neat, but nothing jumped out as something that solves a real problem I have. Maybe I'm not their target market, though.

[symic]

I like Ford’s statement: If I asked people what they wanted they’d have said faster horses.

Before the iPhone people had phones and iPods and laptops. Nobody was clamoring for a small portable computer beyond what Blackberry provided. Nobody was clamoring for online gameplay before the internet.

[allenu]

> Nobody was clamoring for a small portable computer beyond what Blackberry provided. Nobody was clamoring for online gameplay before the internet.

No offense, but I don't think these are accurate. When Doom came out in the early '90s, it famously offered network gameplay via modem. I remember when the first Warcraft came out, playing it with friends over a modem. Multiplayer gaming over the internet was clearly the next step (playing with random people around the world is huge compared with just playing with people you know).

Also, when the Blackberry came out, I do remember PDAs being a big thing at the time, so there was already a market for portable devices and people clearly liked having portable digital electronics, and one that allowed you to go online and view the web with desktop quality was a major benefit.

My main view of Vision Pro is that it doesn't provide revolutionary functionality since so much of what it's offering already exists in ubiquitous fashion today with all of our smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc. It's providing a new way to interface with apps, sure, but we're not going from a world of no ubiquitous tech to ubiquitous tech/internet like we did with smartphones. I think for this to be successful, Apple really needs to show value that is so beyond what we can do already, otherwise it'll remain a novelty for tech enthusiasts who enjoy trying out new experiences.

Going from a horse to a car is a huge leap since you can now move faster or further than you ever could. It opens up the world to you. Going from looking at a phone in my hand to looking through goggles at virtual screens doesn't feel to me like a huge leap in day to day functionality.

[symic]

The internet existed in the 90s so referencing Doom is not apt as it pertains to my statement that before the internet no one clamored for online gameplay. There was a market for PDAs at the time of Blackberry and no one was clamoring for something much better. And the market for small portable computers is now orders of magnitude larger after the iPhone than the market for PDAs was ever going to be with Blackberry type devices. No one clamored for a device without a keyboard.

Great products don’t have to answer a need people think they have. They can create the need.