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Apple CEO Tim Cook stands next to a new Apple Vision Pro headset on display during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, Calif., June 5, 2023.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
apple Open the Vision Pro developer group applications on Monday, ahead of the planned 2024 launch of the $3,499 headset.
When the device starts up, it will need the catalog of applications designed for its unique hardware and capabilities. By opening apps to a developer’s kit months before they’re released, Apple allows select developers to use actual hardware to build and fine-tune apps.
But Apple developer groups are not a smooth product launch. The device is a loan, not a sale, and will remain the property of Apple to be returned after the launch of the Vision Pro headset. Apple representatives will also verify developers and provide code reviews to software makers and companies that have access to the hardware.
Developers are asked what they make and what Apple tools they have used in the past, and they have to sign confidentiality agreements — which include provisions that require the device to remain at the address it was shipped to, cannot be used in public, and must be locked inside a tough Pelican bag when not in use, per Apple’s developer agreement.
Family, friends, roommates, or household staff can’t access, view, or interact with the devices. Apple also prohibits any public discussion of the devices in person or on social media. Apple reserves the right to view the list of employees authorized to work on the device.
Apple unveiled the Vision Pro, its new virtual reality product that the company says is its first “spatial computer,” in June. It’s Apple’s first major new product since the Apple Watch in 2014.
The headset uses powerful cameras and sensors to integrate real world and virtual objects within the headset’s high-resolution screens, positioned millimeters away from the user’s eye.
Many of the Apple-designed apps previewed in June were iPad apps floating in space. But Apple also hinted that the device will be able to do full VR apps that immerse the user in a virtual world and preview some full custom apps that smash computer graphics out of windows and boxes.
Apple is interested in developers porting VR apps from other platforms and creating new apps just for Vision Pro. The company says it is prioritizing app makers who want to take advantage of new hardware capabilities, rather than porting existing iPad apps to the device.
Apple said it would also allow some developers access to devices in “labs” in cities including London, Shanghai and Tokyo.
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