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Apple is more than just the iPhone manufacturer. This $2 trillion company's decisions impact many facets of technology, financials, and everyday life. When the company is rumored to be getting into something new, the entire world pays attention. And since 1997, AppleInsider has been covering this fascinating electronics maker from every possible angle. From details of the next-generation iPhone and MacBook to key indicators expected to drive the company’s stock price, AppleInsider Daily has you completely covered on a daily basis.
Welcome to the AppleInsider Daily podcast for Friday, February 2nd, 20-24. I'm Charles Martin, and we begin today with ... guess which new hardware product.
If you were looking at Apple’s home page or for that matter the AppleInsider home page, you might be forgiven for thinking that Apple doesn’t make any other products BESIDES the Vision Pro, such is the level of attention being given to the latest and most expensive of Apple’s hardware products. We promise there’s at least one story about something else in today’s report, but the focus is of course on the rollout hoopla and the trove of new information about it.
Our colleague Wesley Hill-yard visited the downtown Nashville Apple Store early on Friday, and found a small and quiet squad waiting to check out the Vision Pros. Some, like him, were there to pick up their pre-orders, others were just hoping to get a chance to try on the store’s demo unit.
The store opened early at 8am for those appointments, whereas it normally opens at 10am. Pre-order people who hadn't already submitted their prescription handed their glasses over to a lensometer in the store for it to read that data, which would be used for lenses to be fitted in the Apple Vision Pro.
Wesley opted for the in-person demo first, and he says it is highly recommended even if you are there to buy the device. There is a walkthrough video posted by Apple that is roughly similar to the in-person demo. He'll be writing about his experience with the device for AppleInsider, so keep an eye on the site for those articles.
For those who want to avoid the opening-day rush, as calm as it seems to be going, Apple has announced that it will open Vision Pro demo appointments in Apple Stores through the Apple website beginning on Monday, February 5th, rather than the first-come, first-served basis in use right now. If you plan on getting AppleCare for the Vision Pro -- and you really, REALLY should -- you have to buy it at the time of ordering either online or in-store, or buy it directly from a physical Apple Store separately.
At present, these are the only methods to get the AppleCare protection, which costs $499, for the new device. Repairs to the device can be extremely expensive without AppleCare coverage, so we strongly recommend purchasing it -- and hopefully Apple will make it a bit easier to get after purchase in the near future.
For those who want to explore the device further before a demo or purchase, Apple has posted a total of nine videos for the new headset, available on YouTube under Apple's own channel or the Apple Support channel. These include a Guided Tour, a first-timer demonstration, and tips on customizing the settings, and shooting spatial video, among other topics. There are also plenty of reviews of the device now available; our two favourites so far are Joanna Stern’s review for the Wall Street Journal, and Marques Brownlee aka MKBHD’s review.
In Quick Notes, if you are prone to getting motion sickness, you’re probably NOT in line to buy an Apple Vision Pro right now, but Apple has considered how to help avoid motion sickness in the new headset, including a special icon that will appear when you launch an app or game with a high degree of motion. Other tips include turning the Digital Crown so you can see more of the real space around you, and avoiding spreading out app windows all over the room in order to avoid turning your neck and head frequently.
Speaking of app windows, Adobe has announced that its image-generating software Firefly will be joining Lightroom as a native app for the Apple Vision Pro. If you’re not familiar with Firefly, basically it takes a spoken or written description of what you want to see, and uses Adobe’s own library of images to create four versions of your idea so you can pick the visualization you like most. For the debut version, panoramas and 360-degree imagery is not available, but will be coming in a future update.
Google is one of the few big players that has opted not to make a native YouTube app for the Apple Vision Pro, so independent developer Christian Selig has created one himself, called Juno, which is now available on the Vision Pro App Store. Before this, you could only view YouTube through the built-in Safari browser.
Some may remember Selig as the developer of the Apollo reader for Reddit, though he was forced to close down the app following new fees from Reddit that made it impractical. Selig admits that Juno lacks some polish in its initial incarnation, but will continue to improve it if there is interest. The app costs $5.
Speaking of apps, and as promised, we do have a news item or two that aren't about the Vision Pro. As Apple prepares to alter its App Store regulations to comply with the European Union's new Digital Markets Act, the company is now offering consultations to help EU-based developers better understand their options.
Developers who have questions can request a 30-minute consultation with Apple's developer relations team, which will not only answer questions, but offers an opportunity to give feedback on the proposed changes. Requests can be made through Apple's developer page.
Apple is also putting together a workshop for EU developers interested in exploring alternative app marketplaces. The in-person event will take place in Cork, Ireland, and aims to help developers understand and navigate the intricacies of operating alternative app marketplaces.
In other news, smaller record labels are complaining that Apple is shortchanging them when it comes to the royalty payout pool to fund its up-to-10 percent royalty spike as an incentive for artist to remaster or create in spatial audio, also known as Dolby Atmos. We reported recently that Apple will pay artists more money based not on listens in the format, but rather what proportion of a given label's catalog is currently in, or will be remastered to, spatial audio.
This naturally means that smaller labels can't afford to do that level of remastering, and will thus miss out on much of that funding. The complain that Apple itself is not adding any money to the royalty pool, so this will actually take royalty money away from independent artists and instead reward the big labels that can afford to create or remaster in the new format.
Finally for today, one of the most futuristic features of the Apple Vision Pro is its ability to explore immersive spaces, and a new “Star Trek” spatial experience has been made available for the headset through the estate of creator Gene Roddenberry in collaboration with Paramount Game Studios. The software includes two hours of high-quality footage from all eras of the TV show and film series.
Roddenberry’s son Rod called the new experience quote a remarkable milestone in realizing my father's vision for the Holodeck, unquote, while adding that his mother, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, recorded special voice material in 2008 before her passing so that her voice could be used for the Enterprise’s computer interface after her death, and it will be included in this new experience. She played numerous parts across all the versions of Star Trek, live-action and animated, throughout her life, and her voice will likely be used in any future versions, according to Roddenberry.
You can hear more news and analysis from AppleInsider on the WEEKLY AppleInsider podcast that’s out every Friday, as well as our HomeKitInsider podcast that's out every Monday -- links to both shows are in the notes for this one.
If you would like to support the AppleInsider Daily podcast, we are now accepting sponsorships. Contact information can be found in the show notes.
I've been Charles Martin, and THIS has been the AppleInsider Daily podcast for Friday, February 2nd, 20-24. Thank you for listening.