Why Vision Pro is Apple's next Newton

Some of you are probably too young to remember that Apple introduced one of the first PDAs shortly after Steve Jobs was kicked out of the company. It was called Newton and it was full of really cool technology .

Of course I bought one. And I used it for a month or so. But it was soon eclipsed with better functioning devices with less technology like the Palm Pilot. Newton ended up an impressive novelty bookshelf item.

The problem was, there wasn't really a good use case for it. So you had this thing you walked around with that allowed you to take notes and keep information but it was very difficult to interface with. The handwriting recognition only worked part of the time. So, for the most part, you are better off with a small pad of paper and pencil.

One of the first things Jobs did when he got back in charge was to cancel the Newton. He understood that you need to first identify use cases for your customers and then design products around it.

Pretty much the same is true for the Vision Pro. It's a wonder of technology but has little to no valuable use cases attached to it. People enjoy playing around with it for a week or so and then put it up on the shelf.

Still, like the Newton, it may foretell products to come. Certainly an affordable and easy to use spatial reality system could help with virtual meetings in businesses. And I'm sure there are other killer apps as well.

One of the issues with Apple since Jobs left is the fact that they really have no more visionary leaders. Folks like Johnny Ivey and others with strong opinions and visions have been run off.

It reminds me when Gates left Microsoft and Steve Balmer took over. Balmer, just like Tim Cook, was an accountant. And just like Cook, he added significant shareholder value creating the most valuable company in the world.

And then, Microsoft fell off a cliff. Because, in technology, you have to have hits. You have to invent new products people want to use. And, that's the issue with Cook. No matter how hard he tries to act like Steve Jobs, he has little to no vision of what's going to work in the marketplace. Thankfully for him he has the iPhone. It's not that the iPhone is so great it's just that Android is so bad. You think Google would get a hint and start to understand user experience but they keep failing in favor of adding new features. It's what happens when you let developers run the show.

I believe the Rabbit R1 is a similar device like the Newton and Vision Pro. Cool technology, no really good use cases. Maybe the one thing it has going for it is a very low price which unlike the Vision Pro may be worth taking a look at. But, it's supposed to be shipping any day now and we still haven't seen any reviews, so that's a pretty good indication the product may not be great. I bought one. I'll let you know.