Today (February 2) sees the official launch of the Apple Vision Pro, the company’s first push into the headset market.
Featuring Apple’s typically polished design (and astronomical price tag), the Vision Pro is a bold move from the company, but one it hasn’t made lightly, given its existing reach across mobile, computing and wearables.
Although designed (and marketed) as a mainly consumer-facing device, it’s clear that the Apple Vision Pro could also offer business and enterprise users a number of benefits – and several major companies have already leapt on the bandwagon and revealed their accompanying apps.
Microsoft 365
First up is Microsoft 365, aka the home of all your favorite workplace apps – the likes of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and even Microsoft Teams will all be available on the Apple Vision Pro.
The headset will look to offer a variety of new tools for Microsoft’s apps, taking video conferencing in Teams to a new virtual plane, but also allowing for extra focus on those key Word documents.
Microsoft says the move will also let users better visualize data such as graphs in Excel spreadsheets, and help them practice PowerPoint presentations before speaking in front of an audience.
The apps will all be backed up by Microsoft’s Copilot AI assistant, giving users a smarter and more intuitive way to access the files and information they need.
Zoom
If you’re looking for a slightly different approach to video conferencing, Zoom has also revealed its app for the Apple Vision Pro, showing that virtual meetings and calls are set to be a major use case for the headset.
Zoom says its Apple Vision Pro app will help colleagues and co-workers in different locations feel much closer together, improving collaboration and connection.
But it will also include a number of new features designed specifically for the Apple Vision Pro, such as its Personas feature to give an “authentic” representation of users on the call – including replicating facial and hand movements – and the ability to share 3D objects in much more detail, giving a new perspective on items.
TeamViewer
TeamViewer may be more of a common presence in remote IT support and updates, but the company is making a pitch to go a significant step further with the launch of its TeamViewer Spatial Support app for Apple Vision Pro.
Currently in beta, the app lets a user with an iPhone work together with a remote expert equipped with an Apple Vision Pro, to talk them through the steps needed to make a repair on broken-down or malfunctioning machinery.
The TeamViewer Spatial Support app utilizes ARKit and a built-in LiDAR scanner to capture a detailed 3D model of the device in need of support, which is shared with the remote expert for a synchornized 3D experience.
Box
Online content storage service Box may sound like an unlikely partner for the Apple Vision Pro, but the company says its app can provide users with a range of new ways to engage with their files.
This includes possible scenarios such as a retailer using the Apple Vision Pro to see how a window display may look to customers via a design proposal in Box, or a construction company virtually visiting a building site to view how a project may look using blueprint files or progress images stored in Box.
Box also says its app can use Siri’s dictation tool alongside hand and eye gestures to navigate through its app to track down the files you need, which can then be placed into your own “infinite desktop” for clearer views and better multitasking.