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Apple’s AAPL -0.65%decrease; red down pointing triangle Vision Pro is struggling to attract major software-makers to develop apps for the device, a challenge that threatens to slow the progress of the company’s biggest new product in a decade.
New apps released on the Vision Pro every month have slowed since its launch in January. Some of the most successful virtual-reality software developers have so far opted not to build apps for the headset.
Without enough killer apps, certain users have found the device less useful and are opting to sell it.
“It’s a chicken-or-egg problem,” said Bertrand Nepveu, who previously worked on the Vision Pro at Apple and is now an investor in this area at Triptyq Capital.
Nepveu and app developers think Apple should fund app makers to give them an incentive to port over their existing apps from other headsets or to develop fresh content. This practice has become common in the industry, with headset leader Meta Platforms funding many developers and even buying several app makers.
The social-media company is a formidable competitor to Apple, with a market share of all headsets reaching 74% in the second quarter this year, according to Counterpoint Research.
Last month, Meta announced the Quest 3S headset—a cross between Meta’s Quest 2 and Quest 3—starting at $299, a price low enough that could attract a new wave of users. Meta also showed off Orion, a prototype of so-called “augmented reality” glasses that can show digital content in the real world on see-through lenses.
While Orion isn’t ready for sale, it was a buzzy announcement that drew praise from analysts and enthusiasts. Apple too aims eventually to release an AR device that looks like a regular pair of glasses, people familiar with the company’s plans said.
Many developers are already looking forward to a cheaper version of Apple’s headset, which is expected as soon as next year.
Apple launched the Vision Pro with an experimental strategy: Sell a premium version of the goggles for $3,499 before they had broad consumer appeal, betting the Vision Pro would kick-start an industry still in its infancy. To catch on, the Vision Pro would need killer apps, which helped turn the iPhone into one of the most popular consumer products in history.
So far, the ecosystem for the headset has developed slowly, as many developers remain on the sidelines.
“We’re not in a rush,” said Hrafn Thorisson, chief executive of Iceland-based VR game developer Aldin Dynamics. “We’re waiting until we see a better trajectory and when the next device comes out.”
Aldin makes a popular game for the Meta Quest called “Waltz of the Wizard,” whereby players inhabit a fantasy world casting magical spells. The company has started testing software on the Vision Pro, but it doesn’t have plans to release anytime soon. Thorisson remains hopeful about Apple’s long-term ambitions and thinks it was smart to approach the product as broader than just a gaming device.
There has been a significant slowdown in new apps coming to the Vision Pro every month. Only 10 apps were introduced to the Vision App Store in September, down from the hundreds released in the first two months of the device’s launch, according to analytics firm Appfigures.
It has counted around 1,770 apps available for the Vision Pro in the App Store as of September. Only 34% of those apps are built specifically for the Vision Pro, while the rest are versions of existing Apple apps that have additional Vision Pro functionality, Appfigures said.
Apple said in August that there are more than 2,500 apps built for the Vision Pro. Appfigures said the discrepancy between these two figures could be, in part, because some apps aren’t used enough to register on usage charts, making them difficult for the analytics firm to detect.
“We’re at the stage now where app growth may look slow, but you have to factor in those who are working on it want to create the best app possible,” said Tim Bajarin, a longtime Apple analyst at Creative Strategies. “They’re not rushing those apps to market.”
The Vision Pro app ecosystem appears to be growing slower than the original iPhone and the Apple Watch. Nearly a year after the 2008 launch of the App Store for the iPhone, Apple said it had 50,000 apps. The Apple Watch, meanwhile, had 10,000 apps about five months after its debut.
Both devices had lower starting price points and wider appeal than the Vision Pro. Developing apps for the Vision Pro is far more technologically challenging than doing so for many simple iPhone and Watch apps.
The Meta Quest store has around 3,500 apps, estimated Simon Carless, founder of gaming consulting firm GameDiscoverCo. Carless said the difference between the two platforms is that Quest is primarily a virtual-reality games ecosystem attempting to move into augmented-reality content, while the Vision Pro is an AR platform first.
Apple hasn’t disclosed any sales figures for the Vision Pro, but analysts say the headset hasn’t sold well. Apple cut its first year Vision Pro shipments to between 400,000 and 450,000, down from between 700,000 and 800,000 units, according to supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in April.
In the second quarter this year, Vision Pro sales plunged 80% from the first quarter, according to Counterpoint Research. A large chunk of initial buyers also returned the device within the two-week window that Apple allows for a full refund, the research firm said.
Games are the most popular type of app on the Meta Quest, and Apple by contrast has pitched the Vision Pro as a much broader device for work, health and entertainment. Instead of relying on controllers necessary for most games, the Vision Pro uses hand and eye tracking for users to interact with the software. The lack of controller has inhibited some game development for the Vision Pro.
“They need controllers,” said Scott Albright, chief executive of Combat Waffle Studios, maker of the popular VR shooter game “Ghosts of Tabor.” “I think it’s great Apple being here, but they need to figure out what the headset is meant for.”
With the overall lack of Vision Pro apps, some early adopters are finding little to do on the headset, leading to either early returns or used device sales.
Rostyslav Alieksieienko, a 23-year-old software engineer, received his Vision Pro in February and said he tried everything he could do with it. Alieksieienko downloaded all the Apple-recommended apps and tried to use it for work. But he struggled to find reasons to pick it up again consistently.
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“In the beginning, I was super excited,” he said. “But it didn’t integrate into my life. I ran out of stuff to do quickly. Then it was just laying around.”
In August, Alieksieienko put it up for sale on Facebook Marketplace and ended up selling it for $2,600, a hit from the $4,000 he originally paid for it.
Resale prices of the Vision Pro have declined over the past few months. For the base $3,499 Vision Pro, the average reselling price is $2,494 for September, down from $2,710 in August, on Swappa, a marketplace for buying and selling used technology products.
Write to Aaron Tilley at aaron.tilley@wsj.com
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Appeared in the October 14, 2024, print edition as 'Apple Headset Runs Into Struggles'.