Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com June 11, Apple this week unveiled its first hybrid reality headset Vision Pro, priced at $3499. The device has dual 4K displays, powerful laptop chips and advanced eye and hand tracking technology, but The Verge wrote that the Vision Pro has another advantage that money can't buy: Apple's developer ecology.

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

Although some competitors, such as Meta Quest, have important applications such as Microsoft Office, Xbox and Netflix, other options are limited. In the years since Meta Quest was launched, the Meta Quest Store has released only about 400 games and apps, indicating a lack of content optimized for VR.

Unlike other Touxian ecosystems, Apple has promised hundreds of thousands of apps on the first day of the Vision Pro launch, thanks to the foundation it has laid on other platforms. Apple will automatically convert iPad and iPhone applications into "a scalable 2D window" for Apple Vision Pro, and no extra work is required unless developers want to make some other changes.

For developers who want to create new content for Touxian, Apple also makes it easier for developers who are already familiar with its ecosystem to create applications for visionOS. " VisionOS is not much different from iPadOS with ARKit, "says Maximiliano Firtman, a longtime mobile and web developer." iOS and iPadOS developers will be able to develop visionOS applications using familiar UIKit applications, Unity applications or their recently used SwiftUI applications. "

Developers can use existing frameworks on iOS and iPadOS-SwiftUI, RealityKit, ARKit-to build immersive AR and VR experiences for Vision Pro. These frameworks have 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 Reality Composer Pro, which allows developers to "preview and prepare 3D content" for use by visionOS applications.

Firtman added that even if the visionOS SDK has not yet been released, web developers can still use "WebXR to develop immersive web applications and the web experience of using Safari on visionOS. Because most of the knowledge needed to create applications already exists."

This means that in addition to Apple's native apps, we are likely to see a lot of iOS and iPadOS apps when Vision Pro is launched. For eager developers, Apple encourages them to extend the functionality of their applications. A simple port can display the application as a "window" on Vision Pro, creating a floating version in mixed reality. Applications with 3D elements may present content as a "Volume" to increase the depth of visibility from all angles, and more immersive applications can build a "Space" that takes up the user's entire view.

"Apple may give priority to apps that use the new size and space application paradigm," said Steve Moser, an iOS developer and The Tape Drive editor. "I think developers should recompile their existing iOS and iPadOS applications into visionOS apps as soon as possible so that they can launch on visionOS AppStore and have a chance to be recommended by Apple."

But this approach is inadequate compared with Apple's competitors in one respect: games. CTOnews.com notes that Apple says it will have more than 100 games from its Arcade service when the device goes on sale early next year, but most of these games are not made specifically for VR. This is still important because users can easily take out their iPhone or iPad to play Arcade games without wearing a head display.

The lack of good VR games could put Vision Pro in the same position as the Mac-a device that is primarily used for productivity rather than games. Although Apple is trying to attract game developers to put their works on macOS with a new migration tool, the fact is that most developers do not make Mac a priority platform, because most gamers use Windows, and we still need to see how these newly transplanted games perform.

While Apple's headshow may not have some exciting experiences immediately, it is unlikely to affect its success. Blair Renaud, game developer and director of IrisVR at VR, said: "they seem to have captured all the points that Meta has been groping for over the past few years, namely the overall user experience. They obviously don't care about the current VR ecosystem and game developers like me, but it may be the right choice in the end."

Strong hardware is a prerequisite for Vision Pro to be successful, but like most devices on the market, applications determine whether it is ultimately successful. The good thing for Apple is that it's easier to build on what you've already built than to build from scratch.

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