Today marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of Apple, founded on April 1, 1976, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in a garage in Los Altos, California. What began as a small operation evolved into one of the most valuable companies in the world. Under Steve Jobs' leadership and later Tim Cook's stewardship, Apple became synonymous with innovation, premium design and seamless user experience. Today, Apple stands as one of the world's largest companies by market capitalization, shaping how billions of people communicate, work, and consume media. Over the decades, Apple revolutionized multiple industries with iconic products such as the the Macintosh (1984), iPod (2001), iPhone (2007), and iPad (2010).
When Apple unveiled its upcoming mixed reality headset called at WWDC in June 2023, it evoked some memories of January 2007. Back then, Steve Jobs had i, the iPhone, to a mesmerized audience. And while the Vision Pro keynote was pre-recorded, so there were no 鈥渙ohs鈥 and 鈥渁hhs鈥 and no knowing round of applause when Tim Cook announced that he had 鈥渙ne more thing鈥 to show, there was also a shiny new device with an all-new, 鈥渕agical鈥 user interface that is supposed to ring in a new era of computing.
鈥淚n the same way that Mac introduced us to personal computing and iPhone introduced us to mobile computing, Apple Vision Pro will introduce us to spatial computing,鈥 Tim Cook said in the presentation, leaning into the public expectation that the Vision Pro will be the next big thing for Apple and the world. And while the select few that got to try the new device right after the announcement were widely impressed, there was also a feeling of skepticism, as it isn鈥檛 yet clear what the standout use case, the so-called 鈥渒iller app鈥 of such a device is or might become.
That doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 a bad product, however. The same was arguably true when the Apple Watch was introduced in 2015 and most people agreed that it was a nice piece of tech but didn鈥檛 really know what to do with it. Over time, the watch found its purpose and Apple pivoted more and more towards it being a health and fitness device rather than an iPhone for your wrist. Even the first iPhone was very limited in actual features from today鈥檚 point of view, and we all know how that played out.
Since its launch in June 2007, the iPhone went from zero to close to $210 billion in annual revenue, helping Apple to become the world's first $3-trillion company. Considering its starting price of $3,499, it seems unlikely the Vision Pro will become a hit product right away, but the price might come down over time, giving early adopters and developers a couple of years to figure out what to do with this powerful piece of technology.
