They talked about the optics. They talked about the computer
specs. They talked about the “lenticular glass” and the “new spatial computing
platform” and the “aluminum alloy” used in the “primary structural element.”
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But the one thing Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, and Mike Rockwell,
the head of the AR/VR team, and the rest of the Apple executives involved in
the introduction of the new Apple Vision Pro, the long-awaited augmented
reality headset, did not really discuss was the actual look of the thing.
Yet if they want people to believe that it will “shift the
way we look at technology and the role it plays in our lives,” as Cook put it
during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, how we will look when wearing
it matters. After all, what they are talking about is not just something you
may use every day. It’s something that in order to use, you have to put on
every day. And not just put on, but put on your face.
That’s an incredibly personal act, one that isn’t just about
interacting with technology but interacting with the world around us. It’s
about the messages we send to others about who we are and what we value, and
the judgments others make about us in return. We know from wearing masks to
combat COVID that any item that covers part of a face is an item that becomes
an emotive lightning rod.
So what does the Apple Vision Pro, which many viewers said
looks like pretty sleek gray and black ski goggles with a 3D-printed ribbed
fabric band that circles the head, say about its wearer?
shift the way we look at technology and the role it plays in our lives,
Maybe, I’m a super cool couch slalom master from a land far,
far away. Or an evolved species of alien ant.
The truth is, it’s a little hard to know — not just because
I am assessing it from far away, but because none of the people involved in the
Vision Pro demonstration modeled the headset. Not Cook or Bob Iger of Disney,
who surprised the audience with an appearance to announce a deal to show Disney
programming on the headset, or Rockwell. Which raised a question: Why didn’t
they wear it?
Maybe they were concerned that they would look silly. (There
is an unfortunate mouselike tail on the headset dangling down by one ear, which
is the cable that connects the battery pack.) That the pictures of them looking
silly in their new product would then be made into memes, and that … well, you
know what happens next. Social media mockery!
There were pictures, of course, of the goggles looking very
sleek against a black background. There was a neat video of assorted happy
individuals using the product in the comfort of their pristine rose-tinted
homes and anonymous hotel rooms.
But the lack of an actual person strutting the stage in
Cupertino, California, wearing the product was a notable omission. As was the
fact that no one talked about the design except in terms of its functionality —
and the fact that the device allows others to see a wearer’s eyes, a real step
forward in the world of headset style. (They also didn’t utter the word
“wearables.”)
Yet, if any company should know how much aesthetics matter
in transforming a piece of tech into an accessory for life, it is Apple. That
has always been part of its distinction, beginning with the iMac in its many
colors. It’s how the iPod and the iPhone made the leap from consumer goods to
markers of taste and identity. With their rounded corners and slim lines, they
just looked so good; so sleek and cool. They spurred desire, the way a great
handbag does, even before utility is taken into consideration.
By making the Vision Pro look like goggles, Apple is wading
into the shoals of preexisting stereotypes, personality cliches and history. We
choose glasses for all sorts of reasons: to look smart, to look cool, to look
glamorous; to look like Gloria Steinem or Jack Nicholson or John Lennon. Most
of all, to look individual. And walking around with half your face covered by
glass, no matter how swirly the screen, is a signifier for pod people. (On the
other hand, if you secretly harbor fantasies of looking like Eileen Gu, this
may be for you.)
To be fair, maybe that will change. Maybe by the time the
headset arrives in stores next year, priced at about $3,500, the head straps
will be available in a variety of colors and materials, and the device itself
will come in a shade other than putty, allowing some form of self-expression.
Maybe it will be possible to bedazzle the goggles (that would be fun) or add
stickers or decorate the cord. Apple has clearly worked pretty hard on the fit,
with all sorts of adjustable components, which is something. And it weighs only
about 1 pound.
Maybe Apple is betting that ultimately the tech appeal will
trump fashion, although its experience with the watch would suggest that’s an
incorrect assumption. Or perhaps, like the watch, this is an acknowledgment
that design, when it comes to Apple, is now a secondary consideration. Jony
Ive, the man who, along with Steve Jobs, was most responsible for establishing
its style vocabulary, stepped back from the company in 2019.
That may also be why the big Vision Pro reveal video
featured people using the headset when they were by themselves or, at most,
with their family around, as opposed to in any sort of public space. (OK, one
person was on an airplane, although arguably that’s a place where you want to
pretend there’s no one else around.)
Because the fact is, while no one wants to look like a
fashion victim, no one wants to look like a victim of fashions in tech, either.
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