At the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2023 event today, the tech giant announced a new mixed reality headset that will be compatible with Disney+ from day one. The Apple Vision Pro is one of the biggest announcements in a decade from Apple, and will retail for $3,499.
Disney & Apple Team Up for Mixed Reality
The company showed off what will likely be its biggest and riskiest launch in years — Vision Pro, a device that seeks to blend virtual reality and augmented reality into one product. Apple CEO Tim Cook describes it as “the first product you look through, not at.”
Apple Hub is giving people a sneak peek of some of the interactive features coming soon with this Disney-Apple collaboration:
Disney CEO Bob Iger was also in attendance, announcing unique content would be made for the platform in a cross-corporation collaborative content partnership.
We’re constantly in search of new ways to engage, inform and inspire our fans.
Endless Possibilities
Additionally, Twitter user Mike Baker shared sample photos from today’s presentation with us, showcasing the potential for this new product and a little bit of how its functionality will look.
Here, a user of the Vision Pro is looking up vehicles, locations, characters, and other interesting facts while actively watching “The Mandalorian” on Disney+.
Apple and Disney will provide an opportunity to watch “Star Wars” as you relax in a fully immersive Tatooine setting.
Animated characters jump to life — Mickey Mouse can appear directly in your real-life space.
Multiple college football games can be on at the same time, with stats and win probabilities all in one visual landscape.
Marine life comes alive before your very eyes, merging reality and fantasy into a single realm.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe now has potential to place you in the action and adorn you with your own superpowers and gadgets.
MSN aprovides some added details on how Apple Vision Pro will work:
You can see your home through the Vision Pro, and that means you can use your personal as a way to arrange your apps, which can be placed in physical space and expanded or shrunk to your needs. Want the real world to fade away? You can also add an immersive landscape experience instead of the real world. Incredibly, and unlike competitors, those around you can see your eyes through the Vision Pro, giving you the ability to stay connected, even while you’re using the headset. This is a massive deal in the VR space, as it stops users from being as locked out as they are in other headsets.
An Intertwined History
The Walt Disney Company and Apple Inc. have a long history together, as the late founder Steve Jobs was an early investor in Pixar Animation Studios in 1986, championing computer animation before its mainstream success and later becoming Pixar’s chairman and majority shareholder. When Disney acquired Pixar in 2006, Jobs became a member of the former’s Board of Directors. After his passing, Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook assumed control of Apple in 2011.
Regarding his legacy at Pixar, John Lasseter and Ed Catmull were enormously grateful for the creative risks Jobs assumed for the sake of a fledgling studio that had not yet made a single feature-length feature.
Steve took a chance on us and believed in our crazy dream of making computer-animated films; the one thing he always said was to simply ‘make it great.’ He is why Pixar turned out the way we did and his strength, integrity, and love of life has made us all better people. He will forever be a part of Pixar’s DNA.
Are you excited about today’s announcements? Let us know in the comments what you’d like to see Disney do in the realm of augmented reality.
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