Spatial Computing to Unlock Digital Experience for Physical Products: Shopify President

Shopify President Harley Finkelstein‘s love for technology is not hidden from anybody. On Wednesday, he tweeted a video made by the Shopify team, showing how spatial computing will assist in selling physical products by providing a digital experience to the shoppers.

“Imagine managing your subscriptions/refills digitally while using a physical product. Spatial computing is going to unlock a whole new digital experience for physical products. Video from our Shopify team,” Finkelstein quote-tweeted the video posted by Russ Maschmeyer, designer, founder and innovation lead at Shopify.

Imagine managing your subscriptions/refills digitally while using a physical product. Spatial computing is going to unlock a whole new digital experience for physical products. Video from our Shopify team 👇 https://t.co/cSwtuAiSiS

— Harley Finkelstein (@harleyf) June 20, 2023

How it Works?

In the 14-second-long video, a person is seen shopping for seeds with the help of a spatial computing device. The POV video shows how easy it would be for the shopper to buy any physical product without leaving the comfort of home. Maschmeyer mentioned Apple’s recently launched spacial computing device Vision Pro as part of the experiment.

“Devices like Vision Pro from Apple create exciting opportunities for product extensions. Imagine “waking” a physical product to unlock digital functionality,” Maschmeyer tweeted.

Co-founder and CEO of Drop Commerce Spencer joined the Twitter thread, saying: “Ordering seeds has never looked more fun”.

Shopify app developer John Speed was full of praise for Maschmeyer, commenting: “Russ is a wizard”.

About Apple’s Vision Pro

On June 6, tech giant Apple unveiled the most-awaited augmented-reality headset — Apple Vision Pro at its annual software developer conference WWDC 2023. Calling it the beginning of a new “computing” era, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said at the launch: “Just as the Mac introduced us to personal computing, and iPhone introduced us to mobile computing, Apple Vision Pro introduces us to spatial computing. Built upon decades of Apple innovation, Vision Pro is years ahead and unlike anything created before — with a revolutionary new input system and thousands of groundbreaking innovations. It unlocks incredible experiences for our users and exciting new opportunities for our developers.”

ALSO READ: How Apple’s Vision Pro Will Help Shopify Entrepreneurs

Shopify has full faith in the new technology as it soon shared representational pictures of an entrepreneur, who could see the sales data and order notifications through Vision Pro. “Entrepreneurs multitasking in 2024,” Shopify captioned the tweet.

According to Finkelstein, Shopify was preparing for this transformation for a very long time. “Vision Pro from Apple will transform commerce. Shopify has been preparing for this shift for years,” he said quoting a tweet from Maschmeyer.

About Russ Maschmeyer

Maschmeyer, who earlier worked with companies like Facebook and Apple, had predicted the transformation in March. On LinkedIn, he describes himself as Product Lead for Spatial Commerce. His motive is to help commerce intersect with spatial computing.

“I’ve lived a few professional lives, but the current has been the most satisfying. Working at the intersection of design and technology at scale has been an incredible education and privilege,” reads his bio on LinkedIn.

Apple’s Vision Pro aims to power cloud computing and AI. It is portable and ensures a personalized web experience for each user. Vision Pro will be made available early next year in the United States. Physically, it would fit like a pair of spectacles to provide an infinite canvas for the user to operate the apps.

The spacial computing device has been launched at a price of $3,500. But Apple has started working on a cheaper model to get make the new product accessible to more users.

Shopify’s Bet on AI

In February, Shopify launched Shopify Magic, a suite based on artificial intelligence, to help merchants write product descriptions on their Shopify store. The software tools help merchants write attractive and high-quality product descriptions. While you save energy by not planning descriptions, it helps you save time as well as compelling product descriptions are generated within a few seconds.

The time and energy you save using Shopify Magic can then be used to sell more and focus on the right promotions to reach your target audience.

Shopify believes in AI more than any other e-commerce platform. The Canadian giant is planning to launch more tools linked to Shopify Magic.

“Many merchants will start seeing the Shopify Magic icon in their admin today and over the coming months. Are you ready to try AI-generated product descriptions, but don’t see Shopify Magic in your admin? Sign up now for the waitlist and be one of the first to experience Shopify Magic when it becomes available,” Shopify states in a blog post.

Technology, Above All

In May, when Shopify announced the sacking of its 20 percent workforce, CEO Tobi Lutke emphasized how technology enables Shopify to create the “best possible product”.

“For the past year, we’ve been subtracting everything that’s in the way of making the best possible product. This is extremely important because we are heading into a decade of high velocity and massive change. We will require speed, agility, and a great deal of innovation,” Lutke said, addressing his team.

“I think that we have built the best commerce platform in the world for that. Technological progress always arcs towards simplicity, and entrepreneurs succeed more when we simplify. But now we are at the dawn of the AI era and the new capabilities that are unlocked by that are unprecedented. Shopify has the privilege of being amongst the companies with the best chances of using AI to help our customers. A copilot for entrepreneurship is now possible. Our main quest demands from us to build the best thing that is now possible, and that has just changed entirely,” he added.

Job Threat

The dawn of the AI era also threatens to replace the human workforce with cheap and formula-based bots. In the recent past, tech companies like Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, IBM and Cognizant have fired thousands of employees. While people in authority blame it on macroeconomic conditions and cost-cutting, data shows that most tech companies are rectifying overhiring and preparing the workforce for the future.

According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, AI has become the priority and his company sees sense in focusing on the emerging technology. “We will continue to invest in strategic areas for our future, meaning we are allocating both our capital and talent to areas of secular growth and long-term competitiveness for the company while divesting in other areas,” Nadella said in a letter to his team.