The metaverse technology, which works around the premise of creating fully functional virtual universes built on blockchain, emerged among one of the most search keywords in the recent months. Apple CEO Tim Cook, however, favours the Augmented Reality (AR) tech over metaverse. As per the 62-year-old tech mogul, Apple is not actively using the term metaverse around its products. The reason behind this, as per Cook, is that people do not have a complete understanding of what the technology is all about.
In an interview with Dutch publication Bright, Cook said the AR technology is ‘profound’ that will make an impact in everything around us. In fact, just like metaverse, Cook has also undermined Virtual Reality (VR) in comparison with AR.
“It’s [Metaverse] something you can really immerse yourself in. And that can be used in a good way. But I don’t think you want to live your whole life that way. VR is for set periods, but not a way to communicate well. So, I’m not against it, but that’s how I look at it,” Bright quoted Cook as saying.
While Apple is not pro-actively working around metaverse, a bunch of incidences did stir speculations around the company’s foray into the virtual universe space.
In June, Adobe had said that it has reworked several of its tools for creating three-dimensional content to make them work well on Apple computers that use the iPhone-maker’s proprietary “M” series chips. That had hinted at Apple’s potential foray into the metaverse sector.
Earlier this year, Apple had hosted its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Around the event, Cook had revealed Apple’s intention to invest in the metaverse, causing Apple stocks to jump right after.
Many in the NFT community tend to believe that Apple may have NFT trading cards on the way. However, they will have to wait to see how those shapes up.
Meanwhile, Cook is not the only biggie in the global tech industry that has challenged the legitimacy of the metaverse tech.
Last December, Elon Musk said he had noticed the buzz swirling around the metaverse sector but did not feel convinced enough.
“I don’t see someone strapping a friggin’ screen to their face all day. I don’t know if I necessarily buy into this metaverse stuff, although people talk to me a lot about it. I think we’re far from disappearing into the metaverse, this sounds just kind of buzzwordy,” Musk had said at the time.
The metaverse market is expected to reportedly reach $800 billion (roughly Rs. 59,58,700 crore) by 2024.