How the introduction of the Vision Pro inflamed tensions at Apple

To subtract New mixed reality headset Vision Pro, apple He devised a plan almost as complex as the device itself.

In January 2024, Apple summoned hundreds of retail employees to its Cupertino campus to train them on Vision Pro features. The company asked them to sign non-disclosure agreements obligating them to maintain confidentiality regarding the device, and even about where the training was conducted in Cupertino. While on Apple’s campus, they were asked to place their phones in GPS-blocking Faraday bags. Employees who completed one or two days of training were not allowed to describe their experience to other retail employees who were about to receive their first demo, so as not to interfere with novelty.

It all added to the romance when the workers finally tried the headphones. Company officials demonstrated how the device can transport them to a variety of landscapes, seascapes, and moonscapes, or recreate the sensation of watching movies on a big screen.

“When I came back from Cupertino, it was the coolest thing I had ever seen,” said Megyn Lee, a longtime Apple employee in Columbus, Ohio, who traveled to California for the training. “I can’t express enough how insanely cool this device is.”

It’s up to trainers like Lee to lead four-hour workshops for salespeople when they return to their home stores. Sales reps will then have an hour of company time to practice the demo and master the script, as well as two opportunities to practice on fellow employees.

On paper, the plan seemed solid. In practice, the Vision Pro rollout has proven a failure in many stores.

The demos relied on a number of details that employees often struggled to master. Before a client can begin using the device, staff will have to scan their faces, choose from approximately 25 sizes of light stamps, and install them properly so unwanted light does not damage the images. Users controlled the device with their eyes and fingers, using subtle movements that might be unintuitive at first. The company’s script for the demos ran for more than a dozen screens.

Further complicating the rollout is the way Apple Stores have changed their recruiting and hiring process over the years. under Steve JobsApple prided itself on having stores with good, highly trained employees. However, in the years following his death, Apple staffed its stores more nimbly and relied on a more transient workforce.

By the time of the Vision Pro’s launch in early 2024, several Apple sales representatives had recently become permanent employees after being hired as temps in the fall. They had little experience launching an Apple product. “This was the first time a lot of people had to learn text,” said Kevin Gallagher, a longtime Apple Store employee from Towson, Maryland. “They didn’t have the ability to do that.”

With stores understaffed, many workers did not get the training and practice time that Apple intended. “I got a 20-minute demo. I got about 30 minutes to review the script, and I did a demo about a guy who went to Cupertino and got kicked out of the nest,” said Sam Hernandez, a longtime sales representative at a flagship Apple store in Chicago. (Apple declined to comment for this story.)

In the end, it was estimated that Apple sold fewer than 500,000 Vision Pro devices in 2024 versus the roughly 10 million Apple Watches in its first year and the more than 200 million iPhones it sells annually.

The reasons for the disappointment went beyond fumbling in retail outlets. The device weighed about 1.5 pounds, and was too heavy to wear for long hours, making it less than ideal as a work tool. It offered only a small number of apps compared to other Apple products and was poor for video calls because it couldn’t broadcast the user’s face the way a phone’s camera could. Instead, it generated a zombie-like “character” that sometimes bore little resemblance to the user. Naturally, there was a hefty price tag: $3,500 for the basic version and closer to $4,000 once you added common accessories, like the eye patch and travel case.