There wasn’t a line stretching around the block the way there might have been for an early iPhone release. But the first day that shoppers could get there hands — and heads — on Apple’s new Vision Pro did attract an enthusiastic crowd to the company’s store at Seattle’s University Village early Friday.
The Apple Store opened at 8 a.m., two hours earlier than normal, to accommodate those who couldn’t wait to snag tech’s most hyped new device — a spatial computing headset that starts at $3,500.
Inside the store, people sat on couches trying on the headsets as Apple employees coached them through what they were experiencing behind the curved, dark lens of the Vision Pro. Other would-be buyers milled about tables with the headsets on display, waiting for scheduled demo times as a huge video screen in the showroom ran a Vision Pro sizzle video on a loop.
GeekWire caught up with several early adopters on their way out of the store, Vision Pro in hand, to chat about why they needed the tech now and what excited them about it.
Remy Zee (above) may have overestimated what kind of crowd would be at U. Village. He drove down from Vancouver, B.C., on Thursday to stay with friends, and arrived at the Apple Store on Friday at 3:30 a.m. and found himself first in line, and alone.
“I thought it was going to be packed,” Zee said. “I walked around the building twice just to make sure, and then I realized, ‘Aw, shoot, I came too early.”
Zee said the second person showed up at 5:30 a.m. for the 8 a.m. opening. He said that person flew to Seattle from Calgary — the Vision Pro is only available in the U.S. right now.
Zee makes TikTok videos and Instagram reels under the handle @remyzee.
“I don’t know how this fits into it,” he said. “This doesn’t have anything to do with what I do because I do humor, but I was maybe hoping to fit this somewhere into the videos.”
David Sobeski used to work at Microsoft, was an advisor to Apple and said right now he’s advising Hewlett-Packard on the future of AI. He said he’s an early adapter of all technolgy.
“I buy everything,” Sobeski said. “I’ve had every VR headset. I’ve had the Meta glasses. I even had Google Glass, like [Robert] Scoble — I don’t wear mine in the shower.”
Sobeski said the Vision Pro is not a light headset, and he doesn’t think people are necessarily ready to wear such a device on their face all day. But he’s excited about the eye-tracking capabilities — “it is a game changer what they did,” he said, adding that the interface to pinch with your fingers is also better than anything anyone else has done.
He’s most bullish on the video capabilities — watching a movie or a show — and the ability to integrate with a Mac.
“If you have a laptop, you travel and you’re now sitting at your hotel room, you put Vision Pro on and you automatically connect it to your Mac,” he said. “You’re a developer, an artist, whatever. You just brought a 4K monitor with you in your backpack.”
Scott Smith pre-ordered his Vision Pro and came to the store to pick it up. He said he was partly an Apple fan and partly an early tech adopter, and said he had most of Apple’s products.
“I think the screens are really fantastic,” Smith said of the Vision Pro. “Having immersive, 180-degree video is really impressive for things like watching sports.”
Smith, who is a product manager, said it’s interesting to watch how the first iteration of something adapts and changes over time. And beyond the Vision Pro’s entertainment chops, Smith absolutely envisions using it for work.
“Microsoft has most of their suite on Vision Pro, so most of my apps will be there that I use on a daily basis,” he said. And he likes the idea of using the headset like a second monitor, via apps that are on his Mac.
Zach Munroe of Seattle had to grab the Vision Pro bright and early after spending the past week doing a lot of research.
“The more I watched and read about it, I was like, ‘This thing’s awesome and the future,'” said Munroe, who arrived at the store 20 minutes before opening. It was the first time he’d ever stood in line for anything. Normally he’ll order a new iPhone online and wait a couple weeks for its arrival.
Munroe didn’t even bother with an in-store demo of the pricey hardware. The first time the Vision Pro would be on his face was going to be at home. He laughed and said there’s a 13-day return policy.
A regular gamer on Xbox, Munroe plans to use the Vision Pro mainly for playing video games. Asked about the price, he called it “a little scary,” but added, “I guess it was a treat for me.”
