The biggest advantage of Apple's VisionPro head display is not the hardware, but the developer ecosystem

IT Home reported on June 11th that Apple announced this week its first hybrid reality headphone display, VisionPro, priced at $3499. The device has dual 4K displays, powerful laptop chips, advanced eye and hand tracking technology, etc. However, TheVege has stated that VisionPro also has an advantage that money cannot buy: Apple's developer ecosystem.

One of the biggest advantages of VisionPro may be that iPhone and iPad developers can easily use familiar tools and frameworks to port their existing applications to the device's operating system, visionOS. This is in stark contrast to the headphone displays of competitors such as Meta, Valve, PlayStation, and HTC, which mainly rely on virtual reality and augmented reality applications and games produced by platforms such as Unity or OpenXR.

Although some competitors, such as MetaQuest, have important applications such as Microsoft Office, Xbox, and Netflix, their options beyond these are very limited. In the years since the launch of MetaQuest, the MetaQuest store has only released about 400 games and applications, indicating a lack of content specifically optimized for VR.

Unlike other head-on display ecosystems, Apple promises to provide hundreds of thousands of applications on the first day of VisionPro's launch, thanks to the company's foundation on other platforms. Apple will automatically convert iPad and iPhone applications into a "scalable 2D window" for AppleVisionPro, with no additional work required unless developers want to make some other changes.

For developers who want to create new content for headsets, Apple also makes it easier for developers who are already familiar with its ecosystem to create applications for visionOS. There is not much difference between visionOS and iPadOS with ARKit (Augmented Reality Toolkit), "said Maximiliano Firtman, a longtime mobile and network developer." iOS and iPadOS developers will be able to use their familiar UIKit applications, Unity applications, or their recently used SwiftUI applications to develop visionOS applications

Developers can use existing frameworks on iOS and iPadOS - SwiftUI, RealityKit, ARKit - to build immersive AR and VR experiences suitable for VisionPro. These frameworks have all been "extended to spatial computing," Apple said, allowing developers to create immersive applications for visionOS. They can also use existing tools to build applications, including Xcode and Unity, as well as Apple's upcoming RealityComposerPro, which allows developers to "preview and prepare 3D content" for use in vision OS applications.

Firtman added that even though the visionOS Software development kit has not yet been released, network developers can still use "WebXR to develop immersive Web application and network experiences using Safari on visionOS... because most of the knowledge required to create applications already exists."

This means that in addition to Apple's native applications, we are likely to see many iOS and iPad OS applications when VisionPro is launched. For developers who are eager to try, Apple encourages them to expand the functionality of their applications. A simple port can display the application as a "window" on VisionPro, creating a floating version in mixed reality. Applications with 3D elements may present content as a 'Volume' to increase depth visible from various angles, allowing more immersive applications to construct a 'Space' that occupies the user's entire field of view.

Apple may prioritize recommending applications that use the new volume and space application paradigm, "said Steve Moser, iOS developer and editor in chief of TheTapeDrive

But this method is insufficient compared to Apple's competitors in one aspect: gaming. IT Home noticed that Apple stated that when the device is launched early next year, it will have over 100 games from its Arcade service, but most of these games are not specifically designed for VR. This is still important because users can easily take out their iPhone or iPad to play Arcade games without wearing a headscreen.

The lack of excellent VR games may put VisionPro in the same position as the Mac - a device primarily used for productivity rather than gaming. Although Apple is trying to attract game developers to put their works on MacOS through a new porting tool, the fact is that most developers do not prioritize the Mac as the platform because most game players use Windows, and we still need to observe how these newly ported games perform.

Although Apple's headsets may not immediately have some exciting experiences, it is unlikely to affect their success. VR game developer and IrisVR director Blair Renaud said, "They seem to have captured all the key points that Meta has been exploring in the past few years, which is the overall user experience. They obviously don't pay attention to the current VR ecosystem or game developers like me, but this may ultimately be the right choice

Strong hardware is a necessary condition for VisionPro to succeed, but like most devices on the market, applications are the ones that determine its ultimate success. The good thing about Apple is that building on an established foundation is easier than building from scratch.