Can Apple ruin Zuckerberg’s dream of building the metaverse?

by time news

Meta, a company formerly known as Facebook, is convinced that the future of the company, and of the Internet itself, passes through that kind of virtual world, in which you work as well as travel or have a home, called the metaverse. A project of which, for the moment, the foundations are barely visible, and in which the technology company is not alone. Not much less.

Recently, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, shared in a conversation with his employees that the company currently maintains with Apple a “very deep philosophical competition” for the future of the metaverse.

According to the specialized media ‘The Verge’, which has had access to recordings of the conversation, the father of Facebook believes that the difference in approaches between the two technologies will determine “in which direction the internet should go.” “It is quite clear that Apple will be a competitor for us,” said the businessman.

It should be remembered that, according to numerous leaks, Apple will show its first mixed reality viewer -technology that combines virtual reality and augmented reality- in late 2022 or early 2023. Which implies that the firm with the bitten apple will begin to compete with Meta, sooner rather than later, in the hardware market that will make possible the immersive metaverse that Zuckerberg promised a little less than a year ago.

In accordance with the expectations of the businessman, Apple will bet on the creation of more expensive devices than those of Meta and on an ecosystem -a software- more closed than the one who is trying to build his company, who advocates – at least so far – for the decentralization of the new internet. That is why he announced a few weeks ago the adhesion together with Microsoft, Epic and other firms to the initiative called Metaverse Standards Forum, aimed, specifically, at promoting the creation of open solutions that can be used in all the tools for the metaverse regardless of who be behind

“This is a competition of philosophies and ideas, where (from Apple) they believe that by doing everything themselves and by integrating closely, they build a better experience for the consumer,” Zuckerberg said of what he hopes will happen with the company. the apple at the moment when he finally decides to compete in the construction of the metaverse.

Indeed, everything indicates that Apple will begin to take the first steps in the market for extended realities, the one that Zuckerberg expects to move hundreds of billions of euros by the end of this decade, in the coming months.

Tim CookCEO of Apple, has not shared specific plans, but he has acknowledged that Cupertino sees “a lot of potential” in the metaverse, so he has been “investing accordingly” for some time.

Apple and Meta, two opposite poles

Consulted by ABC, several pioneers of the new virtual realities, such as Edgar Martín-Blas, executive director of Virtual Voyagers, one of the few companies specialized in the creation of metaverses, are especially hopeful about the future of the Internet at the moment when the iPhone company goes into business. Especially, as regards the marketing of virtual and augmented reality hardwareto date, quite residual.

“Apple has users who are real fans. When they announce their glasses is when the thing is going to end up exploding, ”says the Virtual Voyagers executive who, in turn, emphasizes that the apple company has not presented a new device for a long time, so it is already It’s time for you to dare to enter a new segment.

And it is that Apple does not invent anything, but it democratizes ‘gadgets’ as only it knows. It has already happened with smartphones, tablets, smart watches or wireless headphones.

The relationship between the iPhone company and Meta, in addition, has not been the best for a long time. Largely due to the new privacy tools promoted by the apple company, which prevent social networks such as Facebook and Instagram from tracking user navigation outside of their platforms. Something that is seriously affecting the advertising business of the company owned by Zuckerberg.

According to the latest estimates, Apple’s news has cost Meta approximately €10 billion: more or less, the investment that the company has made in the construction of the metaverse in that time.

You may also like

Leave a Comment