This week, I published my second YouTube video about Apple Vision Pro.
This is the start of a long journey for Apple. It’s their take on what the next generation of computing is going to be. They did this with smartphones, smartwatches, and arguably, much of what now constitutes the modern computing experience.
Put simply, Apple probably will force visionOS into most of our lives at some stage. It’s just going to take a rather long time - which is great for someone like me who loves telling the story behind big tech.
Why, then, are people only talking about coffee and straws in the comments section of that video?
I had two options with my second Vision Pro video. The narrative was simple: Apple’s headset isn’t ready for the mass market yet. It will be, one day, but as it stands now, with the size and expense of the hardware, you have to modify too much ingrained behaviour for it to be accepted at scale (like, for instance, the iPhone is).
Now, I could have sat at my desk and just said that. But that wouldn’t have made for a very interesting video, would it?
Instead, I illustrated the behavioural changes required by starting the video with the longest hook I’ve ever made. This technique is placed at the very beginning of a YouTube video and is, as the name suggests, designed to ‘hook’ the viewer in for the rest of it. My hooks usually last five seconds, maximum. This one lasted a minute and a half. It was a risk, but one that I fancied taking because I was rather happy with the result.
The hook for this video features yours truly awkwardly placing Vision Pro on my head and attempting to drink from a mug of coffee, which proves rather difficult due to the size of the Vision Pro headset and the propensity for the mug to bash against that expensive outer display.
Some people saw the humour in this. I wasn’t embellishing anything, but I was highlighting how daft the entire process looks to anyone who isn’t used to working in virtual environments that are provided by computers you have to strap to your face. It just isn’t normal. The fact you have to lift the headset or move your entire body awkwardly back in one single motion whenever you fancy a drink sums this up, I think, in a brilliantly mundane, Mr Bean-like way.
The rest of the video continues this story; I provide six things I think Apple needs to change as its journey towards global spatial computing domination matures. The headset needs to become lighter, more affordable, less weird, and capable of interacting with more of the Apple ecosystem (including the iPhone). The coffee thing was just a vehicle for drawing the audience in and encouraging them to join me in this light-hearted yet fascinating dissection of Apple’s first tentative steps into this new world.
What has happened instead is that I’ve been told umpteen times to start drinking my coffee through a straw. And to try tilting my head back. And to remember that I’ve got a neck. And to buy a smaller mug. And that I should stop being so pathetic - it’s just a drink. One guy even stated that he couldn’t get past my “terrible acting” to watch the rest of the video.
This is YouTube. This is what happens, sometimes, when you publish content online. If you’re a seasoned content creator, you’ll be all too familiar with what I’ve just described. It’s frustrating and delightful in equal measure because that hook worked - it got people talking. It’s an example of a skit (or ‘gag’ - call it what you like) that is designed entirely to incite commentary below the video. The challenge I’ve faced with this one in particular is that some people have taken it so bloody seriously.
That’s life - and the risk we take as content creators. I should also highlight that I don’t view this video as a failure or embarrassment because of those comments. On the contrary, I’m really proud of it - it’s another example of a video I’ve published in 2024 that has had far more time spent on it, due to the increased focus we now have on quality over quantity. I loved making it, I loved publishing it, and I’m excited to see where the Vision Pro narrative leads next.
Oh, and hot beverages through straws? No.