The lack of features/services you describe are all software: which explains exactly why they’re so expensive.
The displays they’re using is in limited supply. And they primarily want to get the headsets into the hand of developers to make apps for them. If some enthusiasts buy them and give them some feedback for OS development that’s also great. The high price makes it more likely that the AVP doesn’t get bought by people that Apple doesn’t have any interest in getting it yet.
You also gotta keep in mind that the AVP has an incredibly powerful processor. That drives a lot of the cost and downsides compared to the quest (a lot of heat from those chips.. metal helps conduct it away). I think the point is to get developers to start thinking primarily about developing professional apps. Apple can’t afford to be stuck with just a casual consumer market. Quest will be too strong there. I’m sure they will launch a “non pro” Apple Vision for this market eventually (I suspect when they can get the same processing power as AVP with less power consumption so they can drop the fan and integrate a battery). But they need the halo-effect of a “pro” product line to drive sales.
The displays they’re using is in limited supply. And they primarily want to get the headsets into the hand of developers to make apps for them. If some enthusiasts buy them and give them some feedback for OS development that’s also great. The high price makes it more likely that the AVP doesn’t get bought by people that Apple doesn’t have any interest in getting it yet.
You also gotta keep in mind that the AVP has an incredibly powerful processor. That drives a lot of the cost and downsides compared to the quest (a lot of heat from those chips.. metal helps conduct it away). I think the point is to get developers to start thinking primarily about developing professional apps. Apple can’t afford to be stuck with just a casual consumer market. Quest will be too strong there. I’m sure they will launch a “non pro” Apple Vision for this market eventually (I suspect when they can get the same processing power as AVP with less power consumption so they can drop the fan and integrate a battery). But they need the halo-effect of a “pro” product line to drive sales.