Apple Lisa Vision Pro MessagePad 2000

D. Griffin Jones on the reports that Apple may have “given up” on the Vision Pro: After two years to see how things have shaken out, maybe the more apt comparison is to the Apple Newton. The Newton was the early, expensive tech demo that wanted to be the iPhone a decade too soon. Much in the same way the Vision Pro really wants to be AR glasses. No one at the time could see what killer feature the Newton was missing, because it hadn’t been invented yet — ubiquitous Wi-Fi and 3G cellular. Meanwhile, everyone can see the Vision Pro is too bulky and awkward. It’s really easy to imagine how the exact same interface in lightweight glasses would be much better. (Real ones know that taking off the Light Seal is the pro move.) John Sculley was a champion of the Newton, who, coming from PepsiCo, was not ‘a product person.’ Tim Cook was “a champion of the Vision Pro,” and, coming from operations, is not a product person, either. I think this is an excellent comparison—there are a ton of 1990s…