Whether or not we expect to buy, I suspect most of us would like to at least try Apple’s upcoming AR/VR headset. But the availability of Reality Pro demos is likely to be limited, even after the product goes on sale toward the end of the year.
It may even be that Apple takes a similar approach to the original gold Apple Watch – where you not only had to make an appointment, but one that took place off the main sales floor …
When will we be able to get a Reality Pro demo?
Although we fully expect Apple to announce Reality Pro at next week’s WWDC, that’s likely to be more of a tease than a launch.
Developers attending in person will almost certainly get hands-on time with the device, but the rest of us will simply get a keynote presentation intended to whet our appetite for a launch much later in the year.
Anyone else hoping for a demo this month is almost guaranteed to be disappointed. Apple doesn’t offer public product demos until they have been officially launched, and that’s not going to happen next week.
So the answer to that first question is: when Reality Pro officially launches, which we’re currently expecting to be around the end of the year.
How will we arrange a demo?
With most Apple products, trying them is as simple as walking into an Apple store, finding the bench with demo models, and playing with them as much as you’d like. Personally I’d be amazed if this is the case with Reality Pro, for two reasons.
First, reports suggest that Apple is only expecting to sell one headset per store per day. Given the very limited market at the reported price of $3,000, it wouldn’t make much sense to devote an entire bench to them.
Second, while purchase intent will likely be low, curiosity is going to be huge. Everyone and their cat is going to want to try it. Simply dumping them on benches in a free-for-all would have Apple stores looking like a discount TV outlet on Black Friday. Well, more like that than usual.
So an appointment system is a given, I think. The question then becomes: How exclusive will these demos be?
Remember the gold Apple Watch Edition?
When the Apple Watch was first launched back in 2015, appointments were recommended, but not required. You did, though, have to be prepared to wait quite some time if you just walked in off the street.
Things were different with the 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition. There, you were offered an appointment for a private demo and try-on session lasting up to an hour.
Admittedly, that was a far more expensive product – anywhere from $10K to $17K. Even if Reality Pro does cost $3K, price alone wouldn’t justify that sort of treatment. After all, you can freely play with a 16-inch MacBook Pro costing almost as much.
But Apple does need to avoid scrums of people crowding around, and it would be hard to get a full AR experience in particular if you’re surrounded by crowds of people, and the speakers are competing with the hubbub of a busy Apple Store.
For those reasons, I do suspect that Reality Pro demos will take place in at least a somewhat secluded area – if not in a meeting room, then at least a quieter area of the store behind a queue barrier.
Expect appointments to be scarce
Given the massive amount of likely interest in a Reality Pro demo, and the need to make some kind of special arrangements for them, I suspect that getting an appointment in the days and weeks after launch is going to be very difficult!
Apple will likely proactively reach out to some customers it thinks more likely to buy – such as developers – while the rest of us should be prepared to spend quite some time awaiting our turn.
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