Apple Faces ‘Chicken-or-Egg Problem’ as Vision Pro Interest Flags

Apple is reportedly struggling to land major software makers to build apps for its Vision Pro.

It’s a difficulty that threatens to hold back new advances the mixed reality headset, Apple’s biggest new device in several years, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Sunday (Oct. 13).

According to the report, new apps released on the Vision Pro each month have slowed since the headset debuted earlier this year, with some of the world’s most successful virtual-reality software developers choosing not to design apps for the device.

And without enough “killer apps,” WSJ said, some users have found the Vision Pro less useful and decided to sell them.

“It’s a chicken-or-egg problem,” said Bertrand Nepveu, who worked on the Vision Pro at Apple before becoming an an investor at Triptyq Capital.

He and app developers argue Apple should fund app designers to provide them with an incentive to move their apps from other headsets of come up with fresh content, something other companies — Meta among them — have done with their headsets.

The report noted that Apple hasn’t released any sales figures for the Vision Pro, though analysts say the headset hasn’t been a hot seller. Apple slashed its first year Vision Pro shipments to between 400,000 and 450,000, from between 700,000 and 800,000 units, WSJ said, citing figures from supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in April.

And data from Counterpoint Research found that — in the second quarter of the year — sales of the device fell 80% from the proper quarter. Many early buyers also returned the headset inside the two-week window in which they could get a refund.

Aside from an apparent dearth of killer apps, PYMNTS has argued that there’s a fine balance for consumers and virtual reality devices.

Research by PYMNTS Intelligence shows that of the 95% of consumers who own or have in their homes at least one connected device, many are open to new, more tech-integrated shopping experiences.

And yet…

“Most people — as in mostly all of them — don’t want to give up the physical world to live mainly via avatars in a virtual one,” PYMNTS’ Karen Webster wrote in a feature last year. “Even though most — as in mostly all of them — very much want to use technology to improve their interactions with people and businesses in the physical world where they live right now.”