What’s next on the horizon for the development of the metaverse (the term for virtual reality spaces where users interact within a computer-generated environment)? With considerable effort dedicated to innovating Virtual (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies in the tech sphere, the metaverse promises to have a significant impact on how we interact with the world and one another in the near future.
The term “metaverse” is thought to have been coined by Neal Stephenson’s in his 1992 cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, describing an alternate, virtual reality, an escape from a dystopian world. “Defined loosely, the metaverse is an all-digital layer of reality that floats above, around, and throughout the features of the real world–or, in some definitions, is entirely separate from it.” cites Mark Sullivan, senior writer at business publication Fast Company.
In 2021, Facebook rebranded as “Meta” and promoted the notion of an efflorescing metaverse for business, community, and play. But in another recent article, Sullivan argues that Apple may soon cultivate a proprietary term, and the word “metaverse” may fall by the wayside: “Whenever Apple’s mixed-reality play does arrive, there’s a good chance—based on the company’s own history—that the marketing bigwigs in Cupertino will eschew the term “metaverse” altogether.”
The same Fast Company article also posits that Apple will soon begin to dominate and shape the metaverse with the emergence of mixed-reality hardware designed to give consumers access to this burgeoning digital world. “The go-to sources on Apple mixed-reality hardware, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, both predict that Apple’s first AR/VR headset…may be announced as soon as early next year. Gurman thinks Apple is already hard at work on a lighter, less expensive “glasses” design that will show up later. The two believe that Apple is also building a mixed-reality device that can do both AR and VR experiences (that is, experiences that augment the real world in front of the user, as well as wholly virtual experiences that exclude the real world).”
Furthermore, Augmented Reality (AR) may take the lead ahead of more immersive Virtual Reality (VR) experiences: “By all indications, Apple is far more interested in creating an open experience that incorporates features of the real world…Apple CEO Tim Cook called AR one of ‘very few profound technologies.’ In spatial computing using AR glasses, the user interface becomes the whole visible world in front of the user, and the lenses in the glasses display digital content within and around real world objects.” The concept of viewing digital information layered on top of the real world seems very futuristic, indeed.
Though the metaverse is primarily a place for gaming in its nascence, as it develops it may also have growing applications in business, including “marketing, human resources, manufacturing, training, safety planning.” (Forbes) The metaverse may also have an intrinsic link to the proliferation of cryptocurrency: “The Metaverse is ground zero for crypto. It’s where people are going to become comfortable using it.” (Fast Company)
While the metaverse will likely take time to continue to grow, forecasters predict that it will take on a more vital, robust role in daily life in the imminent future.