Just to be clear, the Vision Pro does have its niche. As an example, SadlyItsBradley (VR leaker guy) keeps talking on Twitter about how he uses his daily.
Also, if the people who say it hurts would get a third-party strap, I bet they would feel better. I use a halo strap on my Quest 3 and it makes it way more comfortable.
No one is saying the niche doesn't exist. The embarrassing part is that ever since Jobs' triumphant return to Apple their magic was making what looked niche blow up into an everywhere device. Since Jobs passed, Apple has slowly been losing that magic, and this headset is a beautiful illustration of Apple's inability to find those everywhere devices.
Honestly, at this point, if Jobs were still there we'd probably have no VR headset, but a TV with appleTV built in that also magically provides Atmos surround without any extra hardware and magically "just works" to find any and all content you'd want to watch from any service. The resurrected Apple used to be good at finding what people didn't even know they wanted. Now it's a zombie walking around hoping people see the value in what they make.
This. I know TVs don’t have great margins. But OLED plus a great UX would seem to generate better margins in Apple loyalists than those folks buying Samsung or LG or Sony.
Now there's a space that's ripe for disruption. TVs.
I love having apps for streaming services on my TV - but I hate smart TVs. I hate them because their UX is always slow and clunky, they have more bloat installed than a contract smartphone in 2010, and they run a custom, closed OS that will stop getting updates three months after it's released.
Well, that's not true. They'll push and update a year or so later that puts ads on your homescreen that you can't remove.
I won't pay $1,400 for a new 60" Samsung QLED smart TV, but I'd spend $3k on a TV with the same specs and no smart features. I'd just do what I do now, and plug an Android TV box into it.
I've used AppleTV a bit, both their app and the hardware device. I honestly prefer the Android TV boxes I have, but it's more than adequate. More importantly, it's fast and flexible enough to support multiple providers in one app.
If Apple were to build a TV with AppleTV built-in, with the same specs as the Samsung, I'd probably buy it at $3k. I'd definitely buy it at $2k. I'd consider it at $4k or above, depending on whether Apple improves and expands AppleTV.
The single band is almost perfect if your light seal is fit well. The weight is distributed against your forehead and cheekbones, and you barely feel it. It feels more like wearing ski goggles than a VR headset.
The problem is that "if" is carrying a lot of weight there. If your light seal isn't quite right for you, it puts too much pressure against your face. If your sinuses are shaped wrong, or your nose is broken in just the wrong way, tightening the strap enough to press it against your face is uncomfortable.
The second strap is inferior in how comfortable and usable it can be, but is much more consistently usable by people regardless of anatomy and fitment. It takes longer to don and doff, and it isn't as "aesthetic", but the top strap pulls the weight up off your cheekbones and puts some of it on the crown of your head.
Overall, I'd suggest trying the single strap. It's super convenient and can work well. If it doesn't work for you, try the dual strap. If that's better, invest in a good third-party solution that strikes the right balance of comfort, security, and portability for you.
I'm not a big consumer of porn - not a value judgement, just context. Still, I've made it a point to go out to the big sites every couple of months just to see where the industry as a whole is with streaming VR content.
The company behind most of the VR-specific sites also appears to be behind DeoVR. It's finally getting to the point that it may be practical for a company to stream VR content smoothly at a resolution that's acceptable for things like "virtual coworking".
As for porn, if that's what you want the AVP isn't the right product for you. You want image quality and software support. Right now, that would probably be the Quest 3. There are others out there with better image quality (Pimax, Bigscreen, etc.) but streaming sites are built around Meta's platform first and foremost.
Also, if the people who say it hurts would get a third-party strap, I bet they would feel better. I use a halo strap on my Quest 3 and it makes it way more comfortable.