“Apple FaceHugger Pro™”
Yes, futurists, we have a take on the Apple Vision Pro.
Vision Pro is the latest in a progression of media getting closer and closer to our eyes. Media theorist Marshall McLuhan talked about “hot media” — the concept that some media can become an overwhelmingly immersive and sensory experience.
I can’t think of anything hotter in media than strapping two 4K displays to your eyeballs.
Unlike Meta and its market-dominant Quest devices, Apple is a content company. The device announcement coincided with the establishment of a partnership with the biggest IP holder in the world (ahem, Disney), means that this isn’t merely a device, it’s a content and commerce engine strapped to your head. ESPN use-cases alone make this a compelling new media device launch with premium content offerings like courtside VR digital tickets.
The most compelling part of the announcement to me was that the very first use practical use case was navigating to an eCommerce site.
Notably, that site was designed by Rachel Yaeger’s HUMAN, a branding and creative agency in NYC, and a contributor to this year’s VISIONS: Volume IV report by Future Commerce.
Sight Unseen is an online magazine that delivers editorial in a content-meets-commerce experience. And, in case you were wondering, the site is built on Wordpress (sorry, Shopify maxis). Yes, even the futuristic Vision Pro relies on an open source web.
RIP to anyone who has to design response web pages for 100-foot-wide virtual VR screens.
Tech Youtuber Marques Brownlee remarked on the eye-tracking capability of Vision Pro as being “the closest thing to being like magic, and I don’t usually say that about tech products.”
As media progresses from a theater screen 50’ away from your face, to a handheld screen 12” away, to an all-immersive all-encompassing field of view, we can expect new issues and challenges in accepting the real world — far less magical, by comparison. They may look like ski goggles, but the discourse of fear around the mere possibilities of this device make you feel like they look more like H.R. Giger’s Alien Facehugger.
Apple Facehugger Pro™ isn’t as good of a name, though.
In terms of the “heat” of VR immersion media? This is damn-near nuclear.
— Phillip
P.S. Our newest podcast launch is here. We continue to build the world of Archetypes with Episode 2 of the podcast, The Caregiver. Hosted by modern dance artist, Kristen Vencel, this exploration of our human stories in the context of a brand is captivating. Listen now right over here, or wherever podcasts are found.
P.P.S. If and when we have a functioning VR society, you can bet we’ll still have taxes. So we teamed up with our friends at Vertex to help assemble a guide of the SEVEN CHALLENGES you can tackle, head-on, to make your future self rest comfortably — no matter if you’re in the metaverse or IRL. Go get our guide right over here. #sponsored
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