Technology

Initial demand for Apple’s Vision Pro headset could wane, top analyst cautions

Published

2 years ago

January 22, 2024

admin

Apple announced the Vision Pro headset at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in 2023.

Josh Edelson | AFP | Getty Images

Apple‘s Vision Pro quickly sold out after preorders for it opened Friday, but early signs could mean demand is waning, according to top Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities.

Shipping times for all models of the Vision Pro increased to five to seven weeks in a matter of hours, indicating a rapid sell-out of the product, he wrote in a blog post. He estimated that Apple sold 160,000 to 180,000 Vision Pro units over the weekend.

But those extended shipping times remained unchanged 48 hours after preorders opened, according to Kuo, who wrote that it raises a “major concern”: that “demand may quickly taper off after the core fans and heavy users place their orders.”

“Popular iPhone models also sell out immediately upon pre-order, and shipping times typically increase to several weeks within hours,” Kuo wrote. “However, unlike Vision Pro, iPhone models usually continue to see a steady increase in shipping times 24 to 48 hours after pre-orders open, indicating that demand continues to grow even after the initial [sell]-out.”

Kuo wrote in his blog that it “should not be challenging” for Apple to ship 500,000 Vision Pro units in total this year. He previously forecast that the company will only produce between 60,000 and 80,000 units for the product’s Feb. 2 release.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley predicted on Wednesday that Apple will likely ship 300,000 to 400,000 units of its virtual reality headset this year, “with further upside depending on initial sell-through feedback.”

Wall Street analysts don’t expect the $3,499 Vision Pro to provide a significant revenue boost for Apple right away, but they are monitoring how initial reception of the new product category could signal its potential down the line.

“Right now, Vision Pro is still a very niche product,” Kuo wrote.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Technology

Waymo will update driverless fleet after San Francisco blackout to improve navigation during outages

Published

4 hours ago

December 24, 2025

admin

Waymo will update driverless fleet after San Francisco blackout to improve navigation during outages

A Waymo car is halted on the road amid a power outage in San Francisco, California, U.S., December 20, 2025, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video.d

Reuters

Three days after a blackout in San Francisco caused Waymo to pause its driverless car service, the Alphabet-owned company said it’s updating its fleet so its vehicles are better prepared to respond during future outages.

“We’ve always focused on developing the Waymo Driver for the world as it is, including when infrastructure fails,” the company said in a blog post late Tuesday.

Power outages began early afternoon on Saturday in San Francisco and peaked roughly two hours later, affecting about 130,000 customers, according to Pacific Gas and Electric. As of Sunday morning, about 21,000 customers remained without power. PG&E said a fire at a substation resulted in “significant and extensive” damage.

With stoplights and traffic signals not functioning, the city was hit with widespread gridlock. Videos shared on social media appeared to show multiple Waymo vehicles stalled in traffic in various neighborhoods.

“We directed our fleet to pull over and park appropriately so we could return vehicles to our depots in waves,” Waymo said in Tuesday’s blog post. “This ensured we did not further add to the congestion or obstruct emergency vehicles during the peak of the recovery effort.”

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said in an update on X Saturday evening that police officers, fire crews, parking control officers and city ambassadors were deployed across affected neighborhoods.

Waymo said that it’s analyzing the event, and is taking three “immediate steps.”

The first involves “fleet-wide updates” to give vehicles “more context about regional outages,” so cars can take more decisive actions at intersections. The company said it’s also improving its “emergency response protocols,” and is coordinating with Mayor Lurie’s team in San Francisco to better collaborate in emergency preparedness. Finally, Waymo said it’s updating its first responder training “as we discover learnings from this and other widespread events.”

In addition to the Bay Area, Waymo currently serves paid rides to the public in and around Austin, Texas, Phoenix, Atlanta and Los Angeles. The company recently crossed an estimated 450,000 weekly paid rides, and said in December it had served 14 million trips in 2025, putting it on pace to end the year at more than 20 million trips total since launching in 2020.

“Backed by 100M+ miles of fully autonomous driving experience and a record of improving road safety, we are undaunted by the opportunity to challenge the status quo of our roads, and we’re proud to continue serving San Franciscan residents and visitors,” the company said in Tuesday’s blog.

— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny and Jennifer Elias contributed to this report.

WATCH: Waymo service resumes after errors cause issues in San Francisco

Technology

Motive, an Alphabet-backed fleet management software company, files for IPO

Published

8 hours ago

December 23, 2025

admin

Motive, an Alphabet-backed fleet management software company, files for IPO

Direxion signage at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025. The holiday-shortened week started with gains in stocks amid a broad advance that saw a continuation of the bullish momentum on Wall Street.

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Motive, a company with software for managing corporate trucks and drivers, on Tuesday filed for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “MTVE.”

The paperwork puts Motive among a fast-growing group of tech companies looking to go public in 2026. Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX have all reportedly considered making their shares widely available for trading next year.

Motive is smaller, reporting a $62.7 million net loss on $115.8 million in revenue in the third quarter. The loss widened from $41.3 million in the same quarter of 2024, while revenue grew about 23% year over year. The company had almost 100,000 clients at the end of September.

Ryan Johns, Obaid Khan and Shoaib Makani started Motive in 2013, originally under the name Keep Truckin. Makani, the CEO, is Khan’s brother-in-law.

Investors include Alphabet’s GV, Base10 Partners, Greenoaks, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins and Scale Venture Partners.

Motive’s AI Dashcam device for detecting unsafe driving “has prevented 170,000 collisions and saved 1,500 lives on our roads,” Makani wrote in a letter to investors. Most revenue comes from subscriptions, although Motive does sell replacement hardware and professional services.

The San Francisco company changed its name to Motive in 2022, and as of Sept. 30, it employed 4,508 people. Motive employs 400 full-time data annotators who apply labels that are meant to enhance artificial intelligence models.

Motive has ongoing patent-infringement litigation with competitor Samsara, which went public in 2021 and today has a $22 billion market capitalization.

WATCH: AI IPO boom next year? The changing 2026 IPO landscape