Do we really need this????

Apple employees outnumbered customers at Vision Pro launch in San Francisco's Union Square

By Stephen Council

Apple’s first new product launch in seven years brought a shockingly small but still eager contingent of techies to its Union Square store on Friday to check out the $3,499 Vision Pro headset.

A far cry from the mob scenes that accompanied early iPhone launches, just a few dozen people were lined up outside San Francisco’s flagship Apple store when doors opened at 8 a.m. Some were there to buy the headsets — Apple’s new, immersive virtual reality devices — but more had come to try the expensive technology first-hand.

After years of rumors that it was coming – Patently Apple reported in August that Apple's first patent for a VR headset dates back to the birth of the iPhone in 2007 – the Vision Pro is the Cupertino company’s first entry into the headset market. Reviewers have raved about the technical achievement while complaining about its price and roughly pound-and-a-half weight. 

The headset hugs the face closely, with screens of tiny, precisely arranged pixels in front of each eye. Outward-facing cameras feed video onto those screens, so users see the world around them while they control apps and browser windows overlaid on top. A message on the Union Square store iPads said, “Welcome to the era of spatial computing.” 

Though the corporate Apple employees, Genius Bar workers and marketers swarming across the shop floor often outnumbered the visiting customers, there was an excited babble Friday morning. Visitors looked on enviously as blue-shirt-clad Apple employees walked four people at a time through half-hour headset demonstrations. First-come-first-serve demos will continue through the weekend, and bookings for next week are filling up in the Bay Area.

McKay Thomas, a San Francisco tech executive, showed up at 4:30 a.m. Friday with his 13-year-old daughter not to purchase the headset but to beat the line and claim an early demo spot. When Thomas donned the headset, apps like Apple TV, Photos and Safari floated across his vision; he controlled his view and the apps with flicks of his eyes and movements of his right hand.

“It’s not quite life-like,” Thomas told SFGATE, referencing the pass-through video. “But it’s also so much more life-like than any other technology experience I’ve ever had.”

Thomas said he could envision using the device for work, with browsers and apps hovering around him, but that he wants to see what productivity tools developers make for the headset. He also pointed out that if he’s watching television or a movie, he usually wants to be able to watch it together with his family, not alone on a headset. Asked if he’d be buying a Vision Pro, Thomas laughed and said, “I think it’s for single people.”

Others, on Friday, didn’t need a demo before they decided to fork up $3,499, plus tax. 

Shogo Nobuhara and Yui Mizuno came from Sydney for a whirlwind California trip. They visited Yosemite during the week, but were back in San Francisco by Friday morning to buy a headset. Nobuhara’s first reaction? “It’s heavier than I thought,” he said.

Chang Cheng also bought a headset without a demo, and filmed himself opening it, in the store, using Apple’s new spatial video setting — made to display video on the Vision Pro. He told SFGATE that he’ll share the headset and video with family when he’s back home in China, so they can see what it looked like to unbox the device in-store. 

Cheng shrugged away a question about the expense. “Life is short,” he said. “I want to try the most advanced, immersive tech first.”

Youn Lee bought a headset on Friday morning but stuck around for a demo as well. A video game enthusiast and San Francisco resident, Lee said she already has Meta’s Quest headset but still thought the Vision Pro would be worth trying out. 

“I’m hype,” she said, but added that she’s hoping the device is good enough to replace computers, or otherwise eventually be sold for cheaper.

SFGATE caught Jumar Martin, a 23-year-old Lower Haight resident, on his way out of the store. He ordered the headset two weeks ago, and came to Union Square Friday morning to pick it up. Before he hopped in a Waymo to work, he opened up his new device, connected his Apple account and immediately made his Vision Pro’s first Facetime call.

“I had to flex on my LA friends,” Martin explained.