Compelling Brand Experiences On Apple Vision Pro - Digital Explorers' Diary #64
Episode #64 - Compelling Brand Experiences On Apple Vision Pro
Welcome to the Digital Explorers’ Diary, a curated collection of thought-provoking topics about interactive technologies, AI, web3, sense-making, entrepreneurship, and psychology.
Executive summary:
- It’s a science-fiction story… but how realistic is it, really?
- Are mixed-realty passthrough headsets causing psychological issues?
- Will we adopt voice as the new means of interaction with computers?
- And Microsoft cancels Windows Mixed Reality - too bad!
Compelling Brand Experiences On Apple Vision Pro
The topic I’ll discuss today isn’t new, but it has taken on a new dimension with the release of the Apple Vision Pro.
Thanks to Apple and its incredible marketing power, many brands want to release an app designed for use in this headset or, as we must say, in Spatial Computing.
I've had the Vision Pro for a couple of weeks now, and I’ve tested many brand experiences. Unfortunately, most suffer from a typical issue that happens when dealing with new devices and paradigms: they just copy what is already done on their website and paste it into this medium without much adjustment. Yes, some products can be seen in 3D. And… that’s pretty much the only difference.
The hardware is very different, though; how we interact with it is radically new. With controllers on the Quest or, in the specific Vision Pro case, looking at something and pinching with the fingers to activate it is, let’s be honest, a much slower and cumbersome way to interact with an experience that was designed for desktop or mobile.
Yes, I’m talking about e-commerce websites, an experience that is already unpleasant with a keyboard and a mouse. Please, don’t make it worse by having me navigate through it using my eyes and hands!
When using a headset, I don’t want to have the same experience as on a desktop with a more complex way to interact with it!
No, I want the brand to immerse me in their unierse I want them to use this fantastic new medium to make me feel how I would be after I buy their products.
Don’t show me your catalog, guide me through a discovery experience immersed in your brand, ask me questions, or transport me in situations where I’ll use your product. Oh, and by the way, if you ask questions, you’ll get precise analytics!
Are you selling outdoor equipment? Ask my preferences, transport me to the mountains, show me the products in situ, refine my choices, and then show me a product detail page for final conversion in a purchase.
Are you selling shoes? Please, don’t reproduce in the virtual space the traditional retail shoe rack. Seeing the shoes in 3D in front of me is cool, but that’s it? Do I really need to stand up to see one of the far sides? Oh, but while seated, I forgot that I had the battery, and I twisted my head from its weight when standing up…
Ok, I’m going a bit far, but you get the point!
Yes, having an app on the Vision Pro and a nice PR video recorded with an influencer will earn you a coolness badge, but what’s the point if nobody uses it anyway?
Want to discuss this? Reach out here or on LinkedIn to brainstorm with me!
From the Podcast
Every week, I’m teaming up with Guillaume Brincin and Sébastien Spas on the Lost In Immersion podcast. This week, we explore:
- 🥽 We finally got our hands on the Apple Vision Pro! During the podcast, we walk through the most notable features. In our opinion, the weight distribution is not as bad as expected; the overall quality is the best we’ve seen, even if it’s far from passing the visual Turing test. We also show the limitations of eye and hand tracking, especially in situations where a lot of precision is needed. Stay tuned for our long-form, written review!
- 👀 Xpanceo is yet another company trying to create Augmented Reality contact lenses. They are far from it, but they are exploring an interesting idea: instead of being only a screen to cast images, the lens could also be a sensor for brain waves—how realistic is it?
- 🧤 At MWC, Seb tested the haptic Sense Gloves, finding their form factor small and practical. Will miniaturization help drive adoption, or is direct brain stimulation a faster way?
- 👾 Google Genie is the latest AI model from Google DeepMind, which was trained on 2D retro video games and can generate playable games! Once again, it’s just research and far from public availability, but to quote NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang, the miracle of AI is that everybody can become a programmer…
Watch the podcast below, and tune in at 10 am UTC on Tuesdays on Twitch, and listen to the podcasts on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Amazon!
Did this newsletter spark some ideas? There are a lot of ways we can work together:
- A quick-fire, 30-minute brainstorm with me - book it here!
- We can ideate, prototype, and build your experiences - contact us here!