Apple Vision Pro: Early adopters on why they just bought the $3,500 headset

Amazon’s employment data reflects new era of growth | Okta layoffs ADVERTISEMENT [GeekWire]( SPONSOR MESSAGE: Nominations are open for the 2024 GeekWire Awards: [Submit nominations now for the 2024 GeekWire Awards, taking place May 9th at the Showbox Sodo in Seattle.]( TODAY'S TOP STORIES Calling themselves early tech adopters or Apple fanatics or a mix of both, shoppers showed up early Friday morning at Seattle’s University Village to get their hands — and heads — on Apple’s much-hyped Vision Pro spatial computing headset. Remy Zee (above) drove down from Vancouver, B.C., expecting a packed scene. He arrived at 3:30 a.m. to be first in a line that never really materialized. Another early shopper, Zach Munroe, said of the new device: “This thing’s awesome and the future.” [Read more reaction.]( “It’s time for our apps to escape the boundaries of these limited screens that we have in front of us.” That’s the view from Ken Case, CEO of Seattle-based Omni Group, a longtime Mac and iOS software developer that’s releasing its OmniPlan project management software for Apple Vision Pro. Case sees the headset as a strong step toward a new future for computing, and he offers insights into what it was like to develop for the new platform. [Read more](. This chart tells Amazon’s story. That’s the trendline for the tech giant’s employment, dating back 15 years, as tracked by GeekWire from the company’s earnings reports. After more than a decade of meteoric growth, Amazon has entered a new era in which it’s controlling headcount, focusing on efficiencies — and posting record profits. [Read more](. - Amazon shares were up more than 7% in trading Friday morning after [its fourth-quarter results surpassed Wall Street expectations]( driven by its cloud and advertising businesses, and record online sales for the holiday shopping season. - The company also announced [a new generative AI shopping assistant called Rufus]( part of a broader effort by Amazon to accelerate its AI initiatives across the company. Okta layoffs: The identity and access management giant cut 7% of its staff, or about 400 workers, including employees based in the Pacific Northwest. Okta acquired Seattle-area startup Auth0 for $6.5 billion in 2022. [Read more](. Remote medication monitoring: Seattle startup Medsense, which develops sensors that attach to prescription pill bottles and help people with medication adherence, raised new investment to fuel growth. [Read more](. Thanks for [subscribing]( to the GeekWire newsletter, and have a great weekend. — GeekWire managing editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com; GeekWire reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com; and GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop, todd@geekwire.com. SPONSOR MESSAGE [2024 GeekWire Awards nominations are open through February 29th!]( The 2024 GeekWire Awards, taking place May 9th at the Showbox SoDo in Seattle, recognize amazing entrepreneurs, innovators, educators, deal makers and non-profit leaders across more than a dozen categories. [Submit nominations here!]( LATEST HEADLINES [Apple Vision Pro buyers in Seattle wrap their heads around ‘the future’ of tech]( [Okta layoffs impact employees in the Pacific Northwest; identity giant acquired Auth0 in 2021]( [Apple Vision Pro: Why one longtime software shop is jumping head-first into spatial computing]( [Medsense Health, which sells sensors for remote medication management, raises $500K]( [Amazon plans to ‘hold the line’ on job growth as hiring slowdown contributes to record profits]( [Washington state awards $85M in grants to fund thousands of EV charging stations]( [Point-of-sale tech startup CHEQ, which ran Bite of Seattle, acquired by Cantaloupe]( [Amazon shares rise 6% as cloud and advertising power record Q4 revenue of $170B]( [Amazon unveils ‘Rufus’ AI shopping assistant, rolling out in coming weeks in mobile app]( GEEKWORK: TODAY'S TECH JOBS - [Dexis Professional Services: PRISM Integration SME/Engineer (Advisor-Grade 8)]( - [BRINC: Senior Computer Vision Engineer]( - [City of Redlands: Network Engineer]( - [City of Newport: Systems Administrator I or II]( - [INRIX: Chief Revenue Office]( - [Submittable: Director of Engineering]( - [BRINC: Senior/Principal Full-Stack Software Engineer]( - [BRINC: Senior/Principal Backend & Platform Software Engineer]( - [GeekWire: The Etzioni Internship in Climate Tech Journalism at GeekWire, Summer 2024]( - [BRINC: Senior HR Generalist]( [FIND MORE JOBS ON GEEKWORK]( [HIRING? BUY A FEATURED LISTING TO APPEAR HERE]( [About GeekWire]( [Contact Us]( [Advertise]( Copyright © 2024 GeekWire LLC, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted to receive emails from GeekWire LLC.  Our mailing address is: GeekWire LLC 123 NW 36th St, Suite 203 Seattle, WA 98107  [change email frequency or address]( | [unsubscribe](