>> The difference I see this time is we had access to the iPhone(released 2007) and this time[1] it looks like you need to either ask Apple to test the app for you, or go to one of the labs (not in NYC strangely) or be one of the lucky ones to be selected for developer kit.

I'm pretty sure iPad's weren't available in advance of the launch day. And, it launched first in the US. I had an iPad app available on launch day and wasn't able to get my hands on an iPad for a month or two. Of course, developing only in the simulator for iPhone/iPad isn't a huge deal...visionOS is probably a lot harder to simulate particularly when it comes to understanding user interaction.