(BFM Bourse) – The title of the apple group fell 0.8% on Monday after its conference dedicated to developers where it unveiled its mixed reality headset, with a price well above expectations.
Apple has therefore lifted the veil on its first major product since the Apple Watch in 2015. The Cupertino group held its annual WWDC keynote on Monday evening dedicated to developers running iOS, its operating system.
During this event the Apple company announced a new MacBook Air, or even a 17th version of iOS which will include some new features. But obviously the market and lovers of high-tech products were waiting above all for the presentation of the mixed reality headset, Vision Pro.
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“First Space Computer”
Basically the device – which looks a lot like a ski mask – offers an augmented reality experience superimposing virtual elements in the real world, with different degrees of immersion depending on the user’s wishes. A video, for example, showed a person viewing content from the Disney+ platform while moving around his apartment.
Presented as the “first space computer” by Apple, this headset will be available for sale in early 2024 in the United States, before other countries follow.
Its price, of 3499 dollars, finally proved to be significantly higher than expected since, according to Fortune, analysts were counting on a price of between 2500 and 3000 dollars. It’s also three times the starting price of Meta Quest Pro, Meta’s virtual reality headset.
According to Bloomberg, this high price may have somewhat pushed investors to take profits on Apple stock. Before the conference held by the Apple group, the title was on the rise and had even allowed itself to reach a new record price of 184.15 dollars, with a market capitalization approaching 3,000 billion dollars (which Apple had already crossed in January 2022, the apple group then having more shares in circulation).
An Apple-wide straw?
The action finally ended down 0.8% on Monday and fell another 0.4% in pre-opening trade on Tuesday.
Analysts who hoped that Monday evening’s event would be a catalyst therefore have reason to remain unsatisfied. It should be remembered, however, that the Apple share has posted an increase of more than 38% since the start of the year, driven by good financial results, with India as a major growth driver.
It is obviously too early to judge whether the Vision Pro helmet will be a top or a flop for the Cupertino company.
“We can say that Apple has taken a new step in virtual reality and should quickly take market share from Meta. Until the price of the Vision Pro becomes affordable”, judge John Plassard of Mirabaud.
But for now the market needs more tangible signs to show optimism. Especially since Vision Pro might not be a big blockbuster. Quoted by Associated Press, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives expects sales of 150,000 units in the first year and 1 million in the second. Which would therefore represent, on the basis of a unit price of 3,500 dollars, total revenues of 3.5 billion dollars in the second year. A straw compared to the company’s $317 billion in annual revenue…
Julien Marion – ©2023 BFM Bourse
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