Apple doesn’t want want you to buy their headset (opinion)
So, there are only a few apps for the headset at the moment and they are all first party. Apple needs developers to make apps for the headset before they start selling it in mass.
If they do not have apps for it, then people will see a “dead” ecosystem and possibly view it as a failed product.
They priced it at a point where consumers won’t really get it, but devs will. At least larger devs will. Selling it, shows the devs that it’s ready for the market and encourages them to get in early so they can possibly catch the wave of new users.
Once there are a decent amount and variety of apps for the headset, they will sell a slightly trimmed down version for significantly less.
I think that's been pretty obvious form the start. It was clearly priced at a premium upon being announced, and their initial production was cut from ~1mil units to just south of 400k. They know they won't have many buyers for this first gen product and are pricing/producing as such.
I have some coding experience, and a formal education in software development. There’s little chance of me actually making something, but I want to buy it anyways.
The optimist in me says I can play with it and find a cool use cas, and be one of the first to develop something for it, and make lots of money… or at least cover the device cost.
I would sooner use Meta's solution for a virtual office, for a fraction of the price, but I won't buy a Meta headset haha. I'll definitely consider the later versions of Vision Pro assuming the price falls to closer-to-Index pricing.