AI: Disney's Big Picture with Apple Vision Pro

...the premier Storyteller betting deep and early on a new medium

The Bigger Picture, Sunday February 4, 2024

This past week saw the launch of Apple’s Vision Pro ‘Spatial Computing’ platform, with hundreds of thousands of the $3,499 devices finally available in the wild. (Not as expensive in historical terms as I’ve outlined separately). And lots of ways for regular folks to test out the headset before any purchase.

Competitors, Partners, and Developers, large and small are figuring out how to respond to the Vision Pro. Not the least of whom is Meta, which has long had aggressive ambitions in virtual worlds in the ‘Metaverse’. And of course everyone, including Apple is aggressively figuring out how to leverage LLM AI technologies in this new and existing platforms in this AI Tech Wave.

In this Sunday’s ‘Bigger Picture’, I particularly want to focus on one key Apple partner who has worked closely with Apple for years now, getting ready for this Version 1.0 launch of the Vision Pro. And that partner is Disney.

Many factors will determine the success and faiure of the VIsion Pro, and I’ve delved into some of them in piece past. And certainly will cover more in pieces to come. But digital content optimized for this platform is a key factor that will drive the potential mainstream adoption of the VIsion Pro. And thus Disney is a key a partner for Apple in 2024. Let me explain.

The relationship with Disney goes back decades of course, with Steve Jobs’ partnership and eventual sale of Pixar to Disney in 2006 for $7.4 billion. In terms of the VIsion Pro, the Apple/Disney partnership evolved a few years ago, as outlined by Fast Company in “Inside Disney’s big bet on Apple Vision Pro and spatial computing”:
”Years in the works, the new Disney+ app has an immersive new twist. But the company sees it as one small step into a new entertainment medium with rich possibilities.”

“Last June, when Apple streamed the unveiling of its Apple Vision Pro “spatial computing headset” during its WWDC conference, a special guest was part of the festivities: Disney CEO Bob Iger. His appearance wasn’t exactly a shocker. After all, the two companies have had a famously friendly relationship for many years. Moreover, Disney prides itself on being an early adopter of new technologies—a trait dating to its earliest days, when Walt Disney himself was quick to embrace cinematic innovations such as sound and color.”

The roots of the relationship go back a while, as outlined by the Information a couple of years ago in “The Inside Story of why Apple Bet Big on a Mixed-Reality Headset”. It adds additional color to the Vision Pro ‘origin story’ profiled by Vanity Fair on Tim Cook this week, that I outlined separately.

Disney understood early that the Vision Pro was potentially a big shaping factor of the next big medium for consumers given where technologies were heading. As the Fast Company piece goes onto explain:

“To Disney, erring on the side of taking Vision Pro seriously wasn’t just about a short-term business calculation. Instead, it saw glimmers of a new entertainment medium.”

“The reality is, this is just the starting line for these types of devices and experiences,” says Disney Entertainment & ESPN president and CTO Aaron LaBerge. “We’re a storytelling company, and this is a platform that allows us to tell stories in a different way. That’s why we were so excited about it.””

I delved into the ‘medium’ defining the ‘message’ going forward in a separate piece on ‘Understanding Apple’s Vision Pro’ a few days ago.

Developers large and small are kicking the tires to see if this new computing platform has the potential of the Mac, iPhone, iPad and other iconic Apple platforms before it. They have a lot of opportunities across other Big Tech ‘Walled Gardens’ to choose from. Also a focus for regulators this time around.

And of course as I’ve outlined before, whether the Vision Pro succeeds or fails, it has undoubtedly skewed the development path for a wide range of technologies in the years ahead. Tim Cook’s efforts with the Vision Pro have echoes of Steve Jobs’ efforts with Apple’s preceding platforms.

It will take a few years for sure, but history is set to potentially rhyme again, this time with the early help of an important and early content partner in Disney. And that is a Bigger Picture in these early days of the Vision Pro. Stay tuned.

(NOTE: The discussions here are for information purposes only, and not meant as investment advice at any time. Thanks for joining us here)