The Verge makes the case that Safari is the killer visionOS app at launch

David Pierce, writing for The Verge:

At first, the open web is Apple’s best chance to make its headset a winner. Because at least so far, it seems developers are not exactly jumping to build new apps for Apple’s new platform.

There are many strong points made in this article, but as much as I’m bummed that Netflix, YouTube, and others are opting out of having their apps available at launch, I don’t think this is a harbinger of general support for the platform.

I don’t know how many Vision Pro developer kits were sent out, but by all accounts it was a small number, and based on what I know I wouldn’t be surprised if Netflix didn’t get one. One of the requirements (among a long list of somewhat onerous restrictions) of getting a dev kit for the Vision Pro was a commitment to launch an app on day one. It wasn’t enough to want to explore how your app would feel or to test out various ideas and get a head start on supporting the platform, you needed to be a launch partner.

Disney and Microsoft are clearly launch partners for the device, and Netflix and Google are not. We’ll see how long it lasts.