Apple Vision its an all new product category for Apple. As we look toward the launch of the first Apple Vision product next year, Apple Vision Pro, I want to look at certain aspects of what Apple showed at the reveal and take a closer look at how they could prepare their hardware, software, and service offering to give consumers the best shot at buying one. Today I want to look at entertainment. Specifically TV and movie content. 

I think the best place to start is by examining how the expansive selection of video content we have today, The good news is there shouldn’t be any major changes. You can still open Safari and go to any website and play a video. It will open up into a window that can resized and moved anywhere in your environment. And if you have an iPhone or iPad app loaded onto your Vision device, the same thing will happen. You can open that app and start a video and resize it and move it anywhere you like. I anticipate you can take advantage of the Cinema Environment (or any other Environment) to immerse yourself in the content. So that is all nice and I think improves the video watching experience without any additional work by the developer of the app or changes to the way video is filmed or shared. 

But now we come to what can happen if Apple does put in extra work to improve their own apps, TV shows, and movies. One of the things that Apple pointed out specifically at WWDC 2023 is that Vision Pro can play 3D movies. Based on this, I think one of the first things Apple will do is strike a deal with the movie studios to make films shot in 3D available on iTunes to purchase and watch. I think Apple will do something similar to what they did when Apple TV 4K  was launched and Apple made 4K movies and tv shows available to purchase via iTunes. Let users get the 3D version at no additional cost. At the time, this was a big deal in marketing Apple TV 4K.

“With Apple TV 4K, viewers can enjoy a growing selection of 4K HDR movies on iTunes. iTunes users will get automatic upgrades of HD titles in their existing iTunes library to 4K HDR versions when they become available.”

Apple did make a few mentions to the Apple Immersive Video format- a video format specifically designed for watching videos on Apple Vision. It requires the use of special cameras to capture the footage so it presents correctly to users so it will require film studios to do additional work. The good news is, Apple is now partially a film studio since they run Apple TV+. Apple not only purchases content from studios, they directly fund and do the work on their Apple Originals lineup of films. This positions Apple perfectly to adopt the Apple Immersive Video format for all their upcoming TV+ shows and movies, but gives Apple an opportunity to get other studios to adopt the format as well. It even sounds like Apple is actively working on this as Sigmund Judge has indicated the upcoming Apple TV+ movie Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is being filmed with this format in mind. If the partnership with Disney holds up, we could see a lot of movies shot in this format and be an attractive way for consumers to watch tv shows and movies.

I do want to make an additional note here: For those who have seen For All Mankind (which is hopefully everyone as For All Mankind is an excellent show) remember ahead of season 2 premiering Apple released the For All Mankind Time Capsule app which gave users an AR experience to catch up on the events that occurred in the 10 years between seasons 1 and 2. Imagine if Apple does more of these kinds of AR bonuses for Apple TV+ subscribers. It would further immerse people into their favorite shows all on one device. Based on the concept video for Disney+ coming to Apple Vision, it seems like Disney has the same kind of idea. 

I think tv shows and movies will be one of the “killer apps” for the Apple Vision product lineup. But this is one of the products long term strategies. No average consumer is going to make a reservation at an Apple Store and spend $3,500 just to watch Avatar in 3D at home and experience the For All Mankind Time Capsule. But in a few years as more video content is produced for Apple Vision and Apple and Disney and others come up with the best way to expand the entertainment universe using AR and VR in meaningful ways and the Apple Vision Air (or whatever it gets called) costs $2,000, it becomes much more attractive.