Apple describes the Vision Pro as a spatial computing device, but at this point it might as well be a pair of cinema glasses that can play 3D movies. That billing is undermined by the absence of a few apps from the big players in streaming – and Netflix has just explained why it’s ditching the headset for now.
In an interview with Stratechery (through The edge), Netflix’s co-CEO Greg Peters revealed why Netflix hasn’t created a native app (or even made its iPad app available) for the Vision Pro. In a completely honest but somehow somewhat damning observation, he states that the Vision Pro is “so underpowered that it is not particularly relevant to most of our members”.
Peters adds that Netflix needs to make sure “we’re not investing in places that don’t really deliver returns,” but that “we’re always in discussions with Apple to find out.” In other words: Netflix does not rule out the possibility of an app for the Vision Pro in the future, but only if Apple’s headset becomes a lot more mainstream.
That could be a ways off. Early estimates put the Vision Pro’s first weekend sales at around 180,000 units, with demand likely to drop significantly. If you think about that Netflix now has 260 million subscribers worldwide – helped by the success of its ad-supported layer – you can see why it might be taking a wait-and-see approach.
Still, Netflix’s conservative approach to the Vision Pro also reflects some historically frosty relations with Apple. Netflix has not allowed you to log in to the app via Apple TV for years to prevent Apple from receiving a cut in revenue. And Netflix also still isn’t fully integrated with the TV app on Apple’s streaming box, which would let you watch content from all your streaming services in one carousel.
Whether it will be a similar story for Netflix on the Apple Vision Pro remains to be seen, but for now the mixed-reality headset will miss out on the world’s largest TV streaming app, alongside Spotify and YouTube.
A wise move or a disapproval?
At this point, the Vision Pro may well be a very expensive developer kit that’s also available in limited quantities – so Netflix’s position is completely understandable.
Greg Peters does add that Netflix and Apple are in regular contact, stating that “we are always in discussions with Apple” and that “we’ll see where things go with Vision Pro.”
That’s far from a closed door – and yet Netflix hasn’t even allowed its iPad app to run on Apple’s headset. You can watch Netflix in a web browser on the Vision Pro, but that’s hardly a premium experience.
Bold fireball‘S Jon Gruber even recently suggested that a Netflix iPad app for Vision Pro did exist, but the streaming giant had changed its mind — and that the decision was made out of “pure business spite,” rather than anything technical.
Whatever the reality behind Netflix not even offering its iPad app on the Vision Pro, Apple has certainly done its best to convince some of the world’s biggest apps to join its $3,499 ‘spatial computing’ -side. It’s wrong-footing a lot of developers with its potential approach to sideloading on the iPhone, and we’ll probably have to wait until at least the Vision Pro 2 before it comes close to becoming mainstream.