 Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg When Apple Inc. released the iPhone and iPad, third-party developers embraced the devices from the start. That led to the creation of millions of apps — and set the stage for companies like Airbnb Inc. and Snap Inc. to become multibillion-dollar successes. But the same can't be said for Apple's other platforms. The App Store for the Apple Watch is a ghost town: Developers like Twitter Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. have abandoned it. The Apple TV version is mostly a repository of streaming services, and it's probably safe to assume that most people aren't even aware there's a store for iMessage. Apple itself has acknowledged this, prodded by disclosure requirements in the European Union. The stores for the Apple Watch and TV have fewer than 1 million monthly active users in the region, compared with about 130 million for the iPhone, iPad and Mac stores. And you can bet that gap is similar in the US and elsewhere. So that poses a big question: Will the Vision Pro app store be a success like the one on the iPhone and iPad? Or will it flop like on the Apple Watch and TV? The answer will lie somewhere in between. Developers may be slow to create Vision Pro apps because of the product's high price and correspondingly small user base. The device also doesn't have the kind of hand controllers available on other headsets. On the other hand, it's going to be relatively painless to convert current apps into visionOS fare. And that should help make the Vision Pro app store more successful than the Apple Watch and TV versions, even if it never matches the popularity of the one on iOS. When the Vision Pro comes out, it will offer three different types of apps: - Unaltered iPad and iPhone apps that run as a window in visionOS without the developer doing any additional work.
- Converted iPad apps that run as a native visionOS app, requiring the developer to update the software's user interface and to optimize it for a mixed-reality experience.
- Entirely new visionOS apps built from the ground up to work in both virtual and augmented reality. They will take advantage of the device's high-resolution displays and its eye-and-hand controls. (Apple will try its best to spur the creation of these apps starting this month, when it begins letting developers apply to get their hands on the device early.)
 Apple will work with developers to build Vision Pro apps. Source: Apple For most iPad software developers, it will be a quick decision to allow their apps to run unmodified on the Vision Pro. There are a few scenarios where the developer takes a wait-and-see approach, but the move offers the potential of additional revenue with no work. With just those types of apps alone, the Vision Pro app store will probably gain tens of thousands of titles quite quickly. But unmodified apps won't be an ideal experience — especially for consumers who just paid $4,000, with tax and accessories, for the hardware. Vision Pro users are going to want developers to heavily modify their apps to handle the new interface or rewrite them completely. And that's where I think the ecosystem will run into trouble. Let's say Apple sells about 500,000 Vision Pro units annually during its first few years on the market. That's a tiny fraction of the 250 million units combined for the iPhone, iPad and Mac. At that level, the addressable market for the Vision Pro is 500 times smaller than for Apple's other devices — and that's potentially a major roadblock to developers investing in the product. I've spoken to a slew of high-profile developers in the virtual reality space, and that reason alone has them wary of building an app for the Vision Pro. They also say that the lack of VR controller support means that content and games found on other VR platforms won't be able to easily make the jump. "If you're making something for it, either Apple has to pay you to develop it or you're building the app just to create some buzz," one well-known developer told Power On. The track record of Meta, Apple's primary competition in headsets, doesn't bode well for third-party app success. Since Meta's VR app store launched eight years ago, developers have only generated about $1.5 billion. And that's despite Meta having sold 20 million Quests, a number the Vision Pro will likely take years to reach (one important difference: Apple is starting off with a pool of 30 million developers).  Apple's video demonstration for the Vision Pro. Source: Apple Still, I believe the Vision Pro presents a decent opportunity for developers in the long run. For one, they'll be catering to customers who are willing to spend some money. Companies know that they can charge more for apps on visionOS, given the cost of the device and its capabilities. I wouldn't be surprised if $20 is the new $1 for most Vision Pro apps. And we could see many of them costing between $50 and $250, especially in the graphic design or productivity categories. Games on the Vision Pro may even be priced closer to their console equivalents, somewhere in the range of $40 to $60, compared with much lower levels on the iPhone and iPad. A massive marketing push by Apple also could make it worthwhile to build apps for the Vision Pro, according to another developer I spoke to. And it helps add value to subscription apps already on Apple's other platforms. Another plus: Apple hasn't bungled the app development process the way it did with the watch and TV platforms. Initial watch apps were awful and streamed from the iPhone, and the first third-party TV apps didn't even support game controllers. Those drawbacks were hard to recover from. At the start, I expect most Vision Pro apps to center on video streaming. Disney+ is already slated to come to the Vision Pro, and Apple's wide-ranging deal with Amazon probably means Prime Video will have a similar arrangement. Some productivity app developers — like Microsoft Corp. and Zoom Video Communications Inc. — have also committed to the platform. But the biggest streamer of all, Netflix Inc., will take a pass. I'm told that the company has no current plans to develop a native app for the Vision Pro. Of course, Netflix will still let its iPad app run on the headset unmodified.  Apple's Siri and OpenAI's ChatGPT provide vastly different solutions for the same daily request. Photographer: Tim Culpan Apple races to enter the generative AI wars. This past week, I reported on a major development at Apple: It's now all-in on large language models (LLMs) and is working on creating a generative AI product for as early as next year. Moreover, the company has already built an internal ChatGPT-like service for employees. It helps them prototype future features, summarize text and answer questions based on data it has been trained with. The core of this LLM work is a new framework known as Ajax. It was used to create the ChatGPT-style app, dubbed "Apple GPT" by some inside the company, and it's likely to have many more offshoots. The LLM project is a cross-company effort spanning the software engineering, machine learning and cloud engineering organizations. Apple hasn't yet determined what its eventual generative AI product will be for consumers, but there a few areas where you can bet the company is looking. For one, it's easy to imagine a major Siri upgrade to make the assistant more conversational and add the ability to handle more tasks on behalf of the user. Imagine asking Siri to write an email about an upcoming meeting rather than having to actually dictate the message. Beyond consumer products and the internal "Apple GPT" tool, the company is already looking to push generative AI to more parts of its operations. That includes using the technology to help its AppleCare support staff assist customers. And I'm sure that's only the beginning. Still, the company is likely to remain more cautious than some of its Silicon Valley peers. Apple AI chief John Giannandrea aims to be conservative with the technology, and Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has pushed for broader AI regulation.  Customers at an Apple store at Brickell City Centre in Miami. Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg Apple stores will get a new way to sell products. For the first time, salespeople at Apple retail stores will be able to sell products and have them shipped to the customer directly via their EasyPay point-of-sale machines. That's notable for a couple reasons: - If an item is out of stock, the store can still book the sale and not risk losing it when a customer walks out empty-handed and goes elsewhere.
- If shoppers want to purchase a bulky item like an iMac or Mac Pro, they can pay for it in the store and not have to carry it home.
The move also hints at a couple of possibilities. Perhaps Apple is planning, at least in some stores, to stock fewer items and rely more on shipping. This is a trend that many retail chains have been trying in recent years. It certainly makes sense for Apple's smaller stores, and the company already has some locations that rely on remote stock rooms. It also could be an effective strategy for the Vision Pro. Ordering that product is going to be complicated for shoppers due to its different combinations of head bands, light seals and prescription lens inserts. If one of those pieces is out of stock at a retail store, the company could potentially lose a $3,500-plus sale. Now, staff can just tell the user that the missing part will be shipped to them. The new program, internally called EasyPay Online Ordering, will roll out in early August, according to a memo sent to retail store employees. Here's the full memo: We want all our customers to leave the store with exactly what they came for. And this will be easier with EasyPay Online Ordering, launching in early August. With a single bag transaction, you'll have the option of different fulfillment methods, like shipping or personalizing a product.
For shipping or personalizing items, Apple employees currently push customers to buy the product via the online store on a demo Mac or iPad — or sometimes the employee just does it via the web on their EasyPay device. In other Apple retail news, the company is preparing to make changes to its Today at Apple sessions next month.  Samsung headquarters in South Korea. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg Samsung Unpacked: July 26. Following its usual approach, Samsung is set to launch its latest devices in the weeks prior to Apple's big iPhone unveiling in September. The Samsung event, called Unpacked, is likely to include the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5, alongside a fresh tablet, multiple smartwatches and potentially a new version of its Galaxy Buds. The presentation gets underway at 7 a.m. New York time.
Apple Quarterly Earnings: Aug. 3. The company is set to release results for the fiscal third quarter, the last three-month period before the iPhone 15 is introduced. The quarter wasn't packed with big revenue drivers, but it did see the release of new Macs: the 15-inch MacBook Air and M2 Ultra Mac Pro, as well as the M2 Ultra and M2 Max Mac Studios. Wall Street is projecting revenue of about $81 billion, which would mark the third straight year-over-year quarterly decline. Growth is expected to resume in the coming quarters. Q: Can we expect a new Mac mini with the M3 chip?
Q: When would you expect M3 Pro and M3 Max MacBook Pros?
Q: Do you think Apple will switch the Vision Pro from an M2 to M3 chip before next year's release? | 
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