This is what the new Apple Vision Pro virtual reality glasses are like

New York (United States), 02/02/2024.- A customer tries out the new Apple Vision Pro headset during the product’s launch at an Apple Store in New York, New York, USA, 02 February 2024. The company is heavily marketing the new device as a way to widen the appeal of mixed reality technology. (Nueva York) EFE/EPA/JUSTIN LANE
New York (United States), 02/02/2024.- A customer tries out the new Apple Vision Pro headset during the product’s launch at an Apple Store in New York, New York, USA, 02 February 2024. The company is heavily marketing the new device as a way to widen the appeal of mixed reality technology. (Nueva York) EFE/EPA/JUSTIN LANE
Los Angeles (United States), 02/02/2024.- A man stands in front of a screen displaying the Apple Vision Pro headset in a Apple Store at The Grove during the new device’s launch in Los Angeles, California, USA, 02 February 2024. EFE/EPA/ETIENNE LAURENT
Los Angeles (United States), 02/02/2024.- The Apple Vision Pro headset is displayed in a Apple Store at The Grove during the new device’s launch in Los Angeles, California, USA, 02 February 2024. EFE/EPA/ETIENNE LAURENT
Los Angeles (United States), 02/02/2024.- A customer tries on the Apple Vision Pro headset in a Apple Store at The Grove during the new device’s launch in Los Angeles, California, USA, 02 February 2024. EFE/EPA/ETIENNE LAURENT

NEW YORK (EFE).- The CEO of AppleTim Cook, opened the doors of its emblematic store on Fifth Avenue in New York this Friday to welcome the company’s fans who had been waiting outdoors for hours try and buy the Apple Vision Pro, the virtual reality (VR) glasses) and augmented reality (AR) that went on sale in the United States today for $3,499.

For the occasion, the Apple store on the luxurious avenue decorated its entrance, a crystal cube in the middle of a square, with a neon silhouette of Vision Pro glasses.

Heraldo Rosario, a Dominican architect living in New York, didn’t care that the thermometer read 3 degrees or that it was raining, he got in line at the Apple store at 6:30 in the morning – an hour and a half before it opened – and even then he had more than a dozen people ahead of him.

“It feels good to know that I am part of the beginning of something new,” Rosario, who already has several Apple products, such as a computer and telephone, tells EFE, but says that this time he is going to settle for trying the glasses in the store.

Photo of an Apple Vision Pro unit

Kevin Wu, who got in line at 7:30 in the morning, says he came more for the experience of going to an Apple launch and the chance to take a photo with Cook than to buy the product.

“I’m looking forward to trying it, but it’s too expensive for me right now. Besides, Being a first generation product, there will be many defects and things that (Apple) will have to solve. Maybe in two or three years I will have one, but not now,” notes the 21-year-old student.

Applause, songs and many photos

A user tests the new Apple Vision Pro

When there were a few minutes left before the doors opened, the entire Apple store team came out to encourage the fans with applause and chants such as: “AVP”, after the initials of the product.

The first to enter took a photo with Cook before going down the stairs of the store.

The executive director spent an hour in the store talking and taking photos with the users – the vast majority of them men – of the apple company, as well as with YouTubers, influencers and even the actor Neil Patrick Harris.

Yam Olisker, an Israeli YouTuber who traveled ‘on purpose’ to New York for the event, did buy the $3,499 glasses, and was also able to speak with Cook and asked him to sign the box.

“(I asked him) if he really thinks this is the future, if (the glasses) will be the new iPhone and he answered yes,” he adds.

Some glasses to work

Olisker says that he will use it to edit his videos by connecting it to his MacBook, since then he will be able to see his timelines on a 30-meter (virtual) screen.

Apple seeks to differentiate itself from other mixed reality glasses, such as Meta’s Quest – whose latest model costs $499 -, pointing out that its product is not only for playing video games, but also for working.

Meanwhile, if an Apple Vision Pro user is, for example, doing the dishes, they have the option of viewing an Excel or reading a PowerPoint on the kitchen wall.

“Now everything is going to be very much for a very niche audience, but, over time, this is going to be a before and after,” says Marc Alonso, an employee at the Spanish company Rossellimac Apple Premium, whose executive director invited 21 of its workers to experience the launch live in New York.

Alonso bought the Vision Pro out of pocket and jokes that right now they are worth more because Cook signed them.

He says that he will use them for work, since “it has incredible potential” and that he is eager to see what developers do, especially small independent ones.

The glasses now feature “more than 600 designed apps and games,” ranging from Microsoft 365 work apps like Excel, PowerPoint and Microsoft Teams to exclusive 3D content from Disney.