Technology

Apple vision pro – as transformative as the iphone

| Aditya Sehgal

On Jan 9 2007, when Steve Jobs launched the iPhone at Macworld, he changed the world. Sixteen years later, on Jun 5, 2023, when Tim Cook said ‘one more thing’ to introduce the Apple Vision Pro and spatial computing, he changed the world again.

I got my hands on the Vision Pro soon after it launched, and I’ve been using it for a few weeks now.

I’ve been blown away by the killer feature – Presence.

Apple has built a machine that transports your presence into another environment or someone else’s presence into yours. And it’s incredible how well this works.

To demonstrate this, Apple has created new ‘immersive video’ content. It’s beyond 3D – it’s as if you are there. I gasped as I watched Faith Dickey fall off a high line 3000 feet over the fjords of Norway – it was as if she was three meters away in real life. I experienced the ‘real’ presence of Alicia Keys in a recording studio. It wasn’t just about seeing her on a screen; it was about feeling her energy and passion as if I were standing beside her. I couldn’t help smiling in wonder as the virtual butterfly fluttered and parked itself on my finger.

My favourite workplace has been on the Moon for the past three weeks.

Yes, you heard that right – the Moon.

The Vision Pro has an immersive lunar environment, which is now my go-to place when I want to work in peace. Of course, it helps that I can set up a 100 ft tall, immersive screen there to watch my favourite Netflix show.

I recently went to watch Dune 2 in an IMAX theatre in London. The screen felt small, and the experience was underwhelming compared to my theatre on the Moon.

Movies, concerts, and tourism will be changed forever with Vision Pro. We will go from being passive observers to fully immersed in the experience. I’ve already felt the excitement of a live concert and explored far-off destinations from my home; Vision Pro has opened up a world of possibilities.

But Vision Pro isn’t just about entertainment. It’s also already transforming the way I work and collaborate.

As I work on developing Asgard.world, I’ve overlaid digital tokens in the real world through AR on my phone and Vision Pro. It’s been wonderful to experience firsthand how Vision Pro can bring digital tokens to life and give them a real presence in human perception.
Adding a real presence while collaborating with coworkers in the same virtual space, regardless of physical location, will make telecommuting more efficient and connected.

And the personalized experiences that Vision Pro offers are truly remarkable. Whether trying on clothes virtually or exploring architectural designs in 3D, Vision Pro will allow us to interact with digital content in ways that were never possible.

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We know that technologies evolve along an S Curve, starting slow, then experiencing rapid growth, and finally plateauing as they reach maturity. The current version of the Vision Pro is just at the start of its journey along the S Curve. As it continues to develop, it will become more accessible and convenient to use, reaching a point where it becomes as ubiquitous as smartphones are today. A decade from now, I can fully see a world where a more efficient, slimmed-down version of the Vision Pro (perhaps 2X the weight of a pair of goggles) and Android variants will be attached to every face like smartphones are attached to every hand today.

The intersection of Vision Pro with VR/XR and AI represents the convergence of presence and prediction. VR/XR technologies serve as presence machines, allowing users to bring their presence to other places or bring others’ presence to them.

On the other hand, AI acts as a prediction machine, enabling better predictions and actions.

When combined with tokenization, which allows physical objects, content and services to become tangible and tradable, we enter a world where prediction and personalization engines operate within an environment where everything can be tokenized and traded at scale.

In this future world, Vision Pro, AI, and tokenization are driving forces that will transform our reality. With Vision Pro (and its successors) enhancing our perception of the world, AI providing insights and predictions, and tokenization enabling the exchange of tangible and intangible assets, we are on the cusp of a paradigm shift that will redefine how we interact with technology and each other.

Spatial computing, AI, and tokenization are all general-purpose technologies – they can have far-reaching consequences, and we often don’t see the possibilities. Very few people thought that the result of the iPhone launch would be the demise of traditional taxi services.

I advise readers that now is the time to lean forward into these technologies. Those who find use cases for them now have a good chance of being the disruptors rather than the disrupted over the next decade.

My seven lenses for solving problems

| Aditya Sehgal

Six years ago, as a newcomer to China, I struggled to understand the culture. Very often, I needed to find non obvious solutions to non obvious problems.

Over time, I was fortunate to work with many Chinese friends and colleagues who widened my perspective. They taught me there are many hidden helpers to help solve my problems. This led me to develop one of my problem solving systems – my seven lenses for solving problems.

Put simply, the lenses are a bit like Edward De Bono’s thinking hats.

When I have a difficult problem to solve, before applying the lenses the first step is to understand what the problem really is. Almost every time, this simple step results in changing the problem definition – solving a very different problem than what I started with.

Once I have identified what is the ‘non obvious problem’, its time to find the ‘non obvious solution’.

I close my eyes, and with my minds eye, I apply all seven lenses, first one by one, and then in combinations to the problem till I find possible solutions to further explore and polish.

My most productive Lenses are :

1. The Partnership Lens

Is there a partner who can help ? Whose interests can be served by solving this problem ? How can I partner with them and create a win-win situation.

2. The Technology Lens

Can I apply technology to solve this problem ? Can it be automated ? Can it be turned into a ‘machine solution’ by being outsourced to someone who can solve it better ? Can a computer solve it faster/better/cheaper/easier than I can ? Is there a way to program a solution so it becomes repeatable ?

3. The Mobile/Context Lens

Does the solution lie in context/location ? Is it about where I am or what else I am doing at the moment ? Can my smartphone help me solve it with any of its capabilities ?

4. The Question Lens

Very useful when I am trying to get/negotiate something from someone. If the answer to my question is ‘No’, how can I change my question so that the answer is ‘Yes’ ? Can it be a series of questions which lead to ‘Yes’ answers and eventually to a ‘Yes’ answer to my question ?

5. The Government Lens

How can the government help me ? Is what I am doing aligned with the aims of the country ? Is it furthering Civic interest ? If it is in line with where the Government wants to go, there is usually a massive tailwind. If it is not in line, can I nudge my problem so my solution coincides with a Government focus ?

6. The Future Lens

What will be the answer to my question 2 years from now ? 10 years ? 50 years ? 100 years ago ? Do any of these answers inspire me to think how I can a) accelerate a desirable future b) bring back a desirable past ?

7. The Speed Lens

How would the solution look like if I was to do it in half the time ? 10 times faster ? 100 times faster ? How could I do it in 1 second ? What would I add to the solution if I had a year to fix it ? What if I had a century ??

Combination lenses

What if I combined the lenses in various orders ? I could have 21 possible double lens combinations (eg. speed + govt, mobile + partnership), 15 triple lens combinations, 4 quadruple lens combinations, 3 5 lens combinations, 2 6 lens combinations and 1 7 lens combinations. [Though I struggle to conceptualise any more than 3-4 lens combinations at a time]

Of course, there can be many more lenses ! This is not a MECE list (Mutually Exclusive; Collectively Exhaustive). Feel free to add on what works for you.

I suspect that in different countries you may want to add or subtract lenses from your camera. In India, a Jugaad lens works great – ‘What is the Jugaad solution’.

Of course, a lens that often is very valuable is a ‘Google lens’ – sometimes its best to use this even before the other 7 lenses. When you have a problem to solve, just google it to begin – you may be surprised !

I would love to hear about the lenses you would like to add to the toolkit ? Is there a problem solving approach or lens that works well for you ? Please do share in comments below, by communicating with me or by connecting on my Linked in account cn.linkedin.com/pub/aditya-sehgal/3/88/3a8/

Photo credit : Photojojo.com who sell Holga lenses with the multiple lens selector –  for photography, not problem solving !

Colliding trends create mountains of opportunity

| Aditya Sehgal

There are three ways that mountains grow

1. Through an igneous, explosive process, which is sudden and short lived

2. Through a sedimentary process which is slow and takes long to achieve progress

3. The truly giant mountains are created by a clash of tectonic plates in addition to the above.

We spend a lot of time looking at trends to understand how these impact our lives and businesses. To my mind, a better way of looking for opportunities coming out of trends is to search for discontinuities and consumer needs at the confluence of two or more trends.

Like the grinding together of tectonic plates cause monster mountains to rise,  it is the clash of two (or more) trends that unlocks monster potential.

Look at two titanic trends – the ageing population and the progression of technology.  The interaction between these is already creating multiple new opportunities and business models.

As society ages, more people come into early middle age. With this comes increased health and fitness consciousness, and a new opportunity, one example of which is the new wearables industry that addresses this demographic.

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Wearables like the Jawbone®, Nike® band and the Fitbit® have multiple sensors and link to apps running on smartphones. They measure and record activity, exercise, sleep (quantity and quality), calories, nutrition and interface with devices like the withings scale to automatically overlay weight, body mass index, body composition data, blood pressure and mood. This links to back end data systems and social networks which can help us feel better and share this well being or compete with friends.

From personal experience I can say that these can change deep set habits relating to exercise, sleep and eating and are already having significant disruptive downstream influence on other businesses.  [Imagine what Pepsi® would pay to know precisely when and where women, ages 25-35, had the lowest energy levels and highest sugar cravings? – source : http://jawbonestrategy.wordpress.com/valuation/]

For societies like Japan, the ‘silver generation’ is driving a super-fast growth pocket in a slow growth economy. Older people have significantly higher disposable incomes than the average – fuelled by years of saving  and  smaller live-in families/fewer responsibilities.

Today Japan has a median age of 46 years compared to 36 in China and 27 in India. What is happening in Japan today will happen in China in the next decade and in India the decade after. Given that it takes us 5-10 years to build capabilities to ride the wave of a new business model, companies in China should already be addressing these discontinuities to ensure continuing growth for 2020 and beyond.

Let’s add a third trend into the mix – smaller, nuclear families with ageing parents living far away.

What would be the needs of these people which could be addressed through technology ? How could this impact their health and mental peace and that of their loved ones ?

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There are multiple, massive opportunities for new business models that exist in just this one crack between three trends. A few examples :

1. Companionship : apps and services that allow like minded elders to self organise and congregate. This could range from dating apps for elder singles to real (and virtual) chess and bridge clubs to online spiritual services.

2. Family : each grandparent could have a ‘one button’ video link to their grandchildren and children – the grandchildren could grow up listening to their grandparents stories and imbibe their values. The grandparents could be part of the grandchildren’s lives – even from afar.

3. Security : One touch SOS services for emergencies – be it medical or financial or emotional : someone to help at the end of a button.

4. Health : Wearables for the elderly. These will monitor key parameters like sleep, respiration, pulse, temperature, blood pressure, movement, perhaps blood sugar levels. These can prompt for medication, and can keep concerned family members aware of their loved one’s. Where needed they will be able to call local medical aid automatically. They will maintain a full medical record for the doctor – medicine will be more preventative. In time, this device could also dispense medication.

5. Entertainment : Bots to aggregate relevant content. Since many elder people may not be very tech savvy, there will be much more work done on the interfaces for these bots and services to make them as close to automatic as possible

6. Accessibility : all of the above devices and services will be designed with accessibility at the core. Font sizes will be large and easily scalable, software will auto update with very little fuss, sound will be appropriate for those who have lost some hearing, typing will be forgiving of butterfingers, configuration will be simple, there will be less options, with bigger, bolder buttons.

Multiple trend thinking should be adopted to create bigger, more innovative and own able ideas. Strategists, marketers, designers and innovators should practise thinking about the opportunities at the cusp of multiple trends, rather than along a unidimensional trend.