Summary

Ben Thompson’s core diagnosis is that Apple built a compelling immersive medium, then sabotaged it by editing Vision Pro broadcasts like television. Rapid cuts and replays repeatedly break presence; during one fast break, a camera switch left him so disoriented that he “literally missed the basket.”
The strategic mistake compounds itself: Apple’s expensive production choices make each event worse while ensuring there are too few events. Dedicated presenters, announcers, multiple cameras, and bespoke editing deliver “10 things that are way overproduced”; Ben would prefer “10,000 things that are pretty good.”
A single baseline or courtside camera at every game could give Vision Pro the differentiated use case that its roughly $4,000 price currently lacks. Let viewers hear the crowd, watch warmups, and consult the arena scoreboard as an attendee would: “Put a camera at every game. That’s it.”
Basketball is the proof case because television struggles to convey the physical scale, grace, and control visible near the court. Ben argues that immersive video can approximate the breathtaking sight of Giannis or LeBron in transition—provided Apple lets viewers “luxuriate in that feeling” instead of constantly relocating them.
The larger opportunity is a marketplace for remote attendance at increasingly scarce live experiences. Apple already has smaller cameras, a live-production pipeline, and capable hardware; selling access to events could attract users, after which developers follow. “It’s not a chicken or egg problem. It’s a one-way street.”
Andrew Sharp’s conversion from Vision Pro skeptic underscores the gap between product quality and product-market fit. He calls the hardware’s experience “undeniably really cool” and, in his book, the decade’s coolest new hardware, yet declined Ben’s offer to buy him one because he would use it only once every six months. Ben separately calls it “one of the best 30-minute demos of all time.”

Deep dive

1. Television succeeds by admitting it is not attendance

Ben traces televised sports from NBC’s first college-baseball broadcast—one camera plus radio commentary—to a Dodgers-Reds game three months later using two cameras. The medium quickly learned to exploit changing perspectives because “you’re not there.”
Modern television perfects that substitution: the Super Bowl might use “like 130 cameras,” football replays arrive seamlessly, and producers can jump from the live play to an all-22 view or close-up of a disputed catch.
His framing is not anti-TV. Football may be better on television, and familiar devices such as college football’s “crying coed in the stands” are part of a distinct experience built around a flat, 2D panel.

2. Immersive basketball can recover what television loses

Basketball is Ben’s strongest specimen because courtside viewers perceive “the physicality and power” of giants moving with extraordinary grace. Giannis or LeBron coming down the court can be breathtaking, while television only partially communicates how a great player controls an entire game.
He recalls attending Game 1 of the 2015 Finals and feeling LeBron’s fingerprints on “every single second.” Vision Pro can create a “legitimate facsimile” of that presence despite pixelation, imperfect peripheral vision, or occasional tearing.

3. Repeated camera cuts destroy the product’s defining illusion

The Bucks-Lakers presentation let Ben approach a suspension of disbelief—then “boom, it would cut to another camera angle.” Replays and perspective changes did not help; they forced him to reorient inside an immersive space.
One switch during a fast break was so disruptive that he missed the basket. Andrew’s pushback—really an amplification—was that Vision Pro is already disorienting enough to require adjustment, only for Apple to change the view again “the entire game.”
Ben sees the same error across Apple’s catalog: an MLS year-in-review had “57 gazillion cuts,” while a Metallica concert switched cameras precisely when the feeling of actually being there became convincing.

4. Overproduction simultaneously worsens quality and restricts supply

Apple begins the game with a dedicated studio show, but Ben would rather inhabit the arena and watch warmups. At a Warriors-Cavaliers Finals game, he and a friend noticed Kyrie Irving had not missed during warmups, predicted he “might go off,” and then watched it happen.
Multiple cameras, dedicated announcers, presenters, and studio production all add overhead. Ben’s complaint is therefore economic as well as aesthetic: Apple went roughly a year without new installments, leaving nominal “episode one” releases with no visible episode two.

5. Volume could turn Vision Pro from demo into platform

Ben’s prescription is austere: place one camera at every game, retain the crowd and PA audio, and let viewers read the arena scoreboard. “I don’t need a play-by-play announcer.”
He would choose “10,000 things that are pretty good” over 10 polished productions—even if the latter were excellent, which he says they are not. Breadth would make otherwise inaccessible events routinely available.
Live experiences are becoming more distinctive as digital media becomes commoditized. Vision Pro cannot reproduce an Eras Tour crowd, “crazy teenage girls,” or friendship bracelets, but it can sell some of the scarcity and immediacy of being there.
Andrew supplies the adoption evidence: he calls the hardware’s experience “undeniably really cool” and perhaps the decade’s coolest new hardware, yet Apple has not justified spending $4,000 because he would use it only once every six months. Ben separately calls it “one of the best 30-minute demos of all time” and argues that first establishing the core use case will win users, after which developers follow.

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