Vision Pro's Pivot to Enterprise
David Heaney
While I already linked to Apple's press release about their Q2 2024 earnings with its overt first paragraph "thank you" to the Services segment for salvaging the quarter, it's worth calling out what Tim Cook highlighted about the Vision Pro as well. In the actual release, he said next-to-nothing about the device, which is sort of incredible given that this past quarter was the first in which it was on sale.1 But in the follow-up earnings call, Cook had a bit more to say in his opening remarks as relayed by Jason Snell of Six Colors:
Of course, this past quarter we were thrilled to launch Apple Vision Pro, and it has been so wonderful to hear from people who now get to experience the magic of spatial computing. They describe the impossible becoming possible right before their eyes, and they share their amazement and their emotions about what they can do now, whether it’s reliving their most treasured memories or having a movie theater experience right in their living room.
These are, in my opinion, the two strongest elements of the device as it sits on your head right now. Immersive home video and professional content. In some ways, it's actually better than a movie theater experience – certainly it is with 'Apple Immersive' content, even though it is in woefully short supply (and short run times), but also with 3D cinematic content, which is better than it is in a movie theater. I think it's a good sign that Cook highlighted these two elements specifically. Because hopefully it means they're on the verge of doubling, tripling, quadrupling down on them. More. More. More! More!!
It’s also great to see the enthusiasm from the enterprise market. For example, more than half of the Fortune 100 companies have already bought Apple Vision Pro units and are exploring innovative ways to use it to do things that weren’t possible before, and this is just the beginning.
Okay, so we know the Vision Pro sold at least 50 units in the quarter. Progress.
In all seriousness, this is an interesting pivot in narrative in that it might signal an early pivot in strategy? Apple CFO Luca Maestri doubles down in his own remarks:
And since the launch of Vision Pro last quarter, many leading enterprise customers have been investing in this amazing new product to bring spatial computing apps and experiences to life. We are seeing so many compelling use cases, from aircraft engine maintenance training at KLM Airlines, to real-time team collaboration for racing at Porsche, to immersive kitchen design at Lowe’s. We couldn’t be more excited about the spatial computing opportunity in Enterprise.
I mean, do we really have to worry about yet another pivot-to-enterprise in the XR space. Already? By Apple?! Later, in the Q&A:
Atif Malik, Citi: Tim, for enterprise specifically, what are some of the top two or three use cases on Vision Pro you’re hearing most excitement?
Cook: You know, the great thing is I’m hearing about so many of them. I wouldn’t say that one has emerged as the top right now. The most impressive thing is that similar to the way people use a Mac, you use it for everything. People are using it for many different things in enterprise, and that varies from field service, to training, to health care related things like preparing a doctor for pre-op surgery or advanced imaging, control centers, and so it’s an enormous number of different verticals, and our focus is on growing that ecosystem and getting more apps and more and more enterprises engaged, and the event that we had recently, I can’t overstate the enthusiasm in the room. It was extraordinary, and so we’re off to a good start, I think, with enterprise.
Uh...
M.G. Siegler
1 It also clearly moved next-to-no sales needles, with Wearables (the business segment in which Vision Pro is bucketed) sales actually down 10% year-on-year despite the launch.