Apple’s philosophy of first impressions

Here’s a lesser-known detail about how the second-most valuable company in the world runs product demos: For its in-store Vision Pro trials, Apple reportedly delivers its $3,499 headset from the back on a tray, as if it’s a steak at a five-star restaurant. Apple has always been obsessed with packaging. Beautiful packaging creates a halo effect; we perceive something as more valuable if it’s brought to us in a nice container. In sales, first impressions are everything.

Samantha G. Wolfe, an expert in emerging technology and a professor at NYU, takes us inside the experience of testing Vision Pro in-store. In Wolfe’s view, the device itself is gorgeous but its price and setup process could be cheaper and faster. Also on Medium, a professor of UX and design tested Vision Pro in his office and was ridiculed by his students, who told him he looked like “Scuba Steve” with it on. Ever heard of how the first owners of cars were laughed at for using “foolish contraptions”? It reminds me a little bit of that: It’s easy to poke fun at a new technology if you don’t see the future it’s leading us toward.

Are you reading this on a Vision Pro? Tap out a response to this email to let us know. We don’t think you look dorky at all.

What else we’re reading

Last year, the Air Quality Index in Delhi briefly reached 999. To give you a sense of scale, the iPhone’s AQI meter tops out at 500. Delhi resident Niharikaa Kaur Sodhi shares a personal perspective on life in one of the world’s most polluted cities, writing: “When I attended a wedding in the southern part of India last year, my breathing felt so much lighter. It was then I realised how naturally we’ve adapted to something as effortless as breathing becoming forceful.” The main cause of Delhi’s pollution is overharvesting; farmers burn crop residue so they can grow new ones as soon as possible.

From the archive

Delight your customers by having fun with tiny details, writes designer John Saito in an ode to microcopy (those magical little messages app designers leave like easter eggs in loading states and text boxes). “If your product sounds human,” Saito writes, “it’s easier for people to trust you.” Here are his four rules of delightful copywriting:

• Find your voice. Put together guidelines for how your product should sound. If you need help getting started, here are some examples.
• Be clever sparingly. If someone has to read your clever copy every time they launch your app, it’ll get annoying really fast. Save the fun stuff for less common flows.
• Take risks while you can. If you’re a smaller brand, it’s a lot easier to experiment with fun microcopy. Once you scale, copy has a tendency to get toned down.
• Consider randomized messages. Sometimes you can make an experience more delightful by showing a new message each time.

Your daily dose of practical wisdom

Curiosity — or “a willingness to engage with complex, unfamiliar, and challenging concepts or endeavors” — is fundamental to living a happy, healthy life.

Written by Harris Sockel
Edited and produced by Scott Lamb & Carly Rose Gillis

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