Apple sees a lot of potential in the metaverse and is investing accordingly, says Apple CEO Tim Cook. During Apple’s Q1 2022 earnings call, he described Apple as a company that is in the business of innovation. Cook said they are always exploring new and emerging technologies. As such, Apple finds the metaverse quite interesting.
Cook said the company has 14,000 ARKit apps on the App Store providing incredible augmented reality (AR) experiences to millions of people across the world. It’s normal for Apple to be interested in the metaverse. In regards to stepping into this space, the iPhone maker is looking for an area at the intersection of hardware, software and services. Cook believes this is where the magic really happens.
He highlighted that Apple has revamped its R&D spending. Moreover, the company is investing in things that aren’t on the market at this point. Apple plans to launch its first AR/VR headset product this year.
The next biggest thing
Metaverse is regarded as the next biggest thing following Web3 and it has got big names jumping into it. After Facebook, Roblox and Epic Games have grabbed on. Both online gaming companies have built virtual worlds. Craig Donato, a chief business officer at Roblox, says the metaverse is already here. He believes the shift to the metaverse is very generational and children that grew up in interactive gaming, naturally, get this stuff. Donato said Roblox has developed more features to appeal to older users. The company’s employees working from home during the pandemic created a virtual version of the Roblox headquarters within the app to host meetings with each other. It included minute details down to the whiteboards in conference rooms.
