Apple’s Vision Pro is Finding a Home in Niche Industries
Lowe's
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Apple unveiled the Vision Pro during its 2023 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) to much fanfare. However, only a days after it finally launched in early 2024, we began seeing reports hinting that its honeymoon phase might be over.
Many early adopters of the $3,500 headset returned the product within Apple’s 14-day window, suggesting some never intended to keep it in the first place. However, others clearly tried to like it, and some even held on, despite feeling buyer’s remorse due to complaints about the Vision Pro’s weight, appearance, and lack of practical use cases.
Needless to say, Vision’s Pro’s lack of success has been the dominating narrative, but that’s not true everywhere.
While rumors swirl about a more affordable ‘Vision Pro 2’ in development, some unexpected markets may be pushing the Vision Pro forward and ushering in the spatial computing (combining the digital and physical world) era. Since its launch, the Vision Pro has shown promise in several areas, from radiology and surgical applications to gaming, and some companies are finding it to be a valuable tool.
A recent report by the Wall Street Journal (Apple News+) reveals that there’s been an uptick in business use of the Vision Pro, particularly where the value of the device as a sales and training tool far outweighs its hefty price tag.
According to the WSJ, Lowe’s is using the Vision Pro at ten of its stores — five in the San Francisco area and five in the Austin, Texas area — with plans to ramp up to 100 by the end of the year. Eventually, Lowe’s plans to scale the use of the Vision Pro to 400 of its 1700+ stores, according to Lowe’s Chief Digital and Information Officer.
Lowe’s has created the Lowe’s Style Studio app specifically for the Vision Pro and launched it in February. It’s used to support kitchen redesigns and renovations. Style Studio:
…is a breakthrough experience—purpose-built for Apple Vision Pro—that immerses users in a high-fidelity 3D kitchen environment, and enables them to explore, imagine and bring their unique project to life in minutes…
Style Studio gives customers a unique way to explore over 80 billion design combinations of materials, appliances, colors, and more, rather than simply relying on smaller samples. The app uses a photo of a customer’s existing kitchen to allow them to visualize their selections. This experience should help boost customer confidence in what’s most often a significant expenditure, as well as shorten the sales process.
Canadian company CAE is also using the Vision Pro to train pilots. The WSJ reports that CAE has been using mixed reality training for at least 10 years, but is now using the Vision Pro in conjunction with its flight simulators for pilot certification and additional training. CAE’s Chief Technology Officer praised the Vision Pro’s sharp and readable display, haptic feedback, audio quality, and its ability to allow crew members to train remotely as if they were in the same cockpit. It’s being used to train pilots on planes like the Bombardier Global 7500, a $75 million business jet.
Will these niche applications successfully expand and nudge others to explore how the Apple Vision Pro can be used to meet their business needs? It certainly won’t happen overnight. If the Vision Pro is proven to streamline the sales process at Lowe’s and increase the efficiency of pilot training at CAE, it’s easy to imagine the opportunities for other businesses to capitalize on the Vision Pro.
