VisionOS and Apple Vision Pro: Slow Development and Developer Skepticism | Google generative ai course free | Traditional ai examples | Google ai course | Turtles AI

 Low developer buy-in to Apple’s Vision Pro visionOS platform, coupled with low sales of the device, raises questions about its future. Setapp’s survey highlights different priorities for developers focused more on AI.

Key points:

• Only 3% of developers are creating new apps for visionOS.
• 35% do not plan to develop for Apple Vision Pro.
• Priority of developers shifted to AI, with 60% committed to this area.
• Limited sales and high cost hinder device adoption.

Despite the official debut of Apple Vision Pro earlier this year, progress in dedicated app development is extremely limited. A survey conducted by Setapp shows that only 3 percent of developers are making entirely new apps for visionOS, suggesting a general skepticism toward Apple’s mixed-reality viewer. The availability of a large library of apps is a key element in the success of any operating system; however, in this case, the limited number of interested developers seems to be slowing the platform’s growth considerably. Other survey data reveal that 50 percent of developers are unsure about supporting Apple Vision Pro, while 35 percent have no intention of creating applications for the technology, preferring to focus on AI-related projects, an area that 60 percent of respondents are actively involved in.

Poor sales of the device, with fewer than 500,000 units shipped in 2024, and the high price of $3,499 are additional factors that seem to negatively influence developers’ interest. This scenario highlights how Apple Vision Pro has failed to stimulate significant adoption by either users or the developer community, thus limiting the chances of creating a competitive and diverse app ecosystem. Apple’s strategies to justify the high cost, such as positioning the device as a futuristic product for pioneering users, also do not seem to have convinced the majority of the market.

Meanwhile, the Cupertino-based company has continued to roll out updates to the visionOS operating system, such as the recent version 2.2, which introduces improved productivity features, including support for ultrawide monitors. However, these new features do not seem to be enough to reverse the trend. Lack of appealing use cases and developer disinterest may be among the reasons that, according to some rumors, have prompted Apple to scale back plans to produce the visor by the end of 2024 and to postpone development of an affordable version beyond 2027.

The current landscape calls for a significant change of pace, with new initiatives that can attract the interest of the developer community, but right now priorities seem to be directed elsewhere.