The iPad and the iPhone were heavily criticized when they came out. While both were pushing some good tech, they were also going against the general wisdom of what made a product in each category.
The problems with the vision pro seem more fundamental, primarily cost. Apple really needs to sell it with zero margin or as a loss leader to build marketshare because $3000 is absurd and will really damage its branding "weird face hugger for rich people"
But the Vision Pro will be eye- catching and hard to miss, with a large profile and unique design.
Time will tell if it works.
If they get a handful of celebrities walking around with these things it may become a status symbol. Or it may become a joke, especially if somebody crashes their Ferrari while wearing one.
A Vision Pro won't be seen in public. Nobody's going to be wearing this heavy thing in an airport or on transit.
[0] https://www.theverge.com/23920102/meta-quest-3-in-public-pri...
I suspect they already are.
The thing all these first-generation products have in common (including the Apple Vision Pro) is that they are eminently skippable and usually followed by more popular, better-spec'd lower-cost models within a year or two.
It's kind of hard to imagine that this was the reality, given where we are today.
If memory serves right, after first few versions of iPod Touch was out everyone was wondering why Apple is not cramming in the phone functionality as well.
iPhone maybe was criticized by the likes of Ballmer and Nokia/Blackberry execs from business strategy perspective, but I'm not sure that sentiment was universally shared by consumers.
EDIT:
OK my memory has failed tragically. Will leave this comment here nevertheless.
That was huge pocket savings. Apps didn’t come until significantly later.