According to Mark Zuckerberg, Apple and Meta (formerly Facebook) are in a very deep, philosophical competition to create the Metaverse.
As The Verge reports, in a meeting with employees, he said that Meta will position itself as a more open and cheaper alternative to Apple, which is expected to announce its first augmented reality (AR) headset later this year.
He explicitly told employees that Meta is competing directly with Apple to determine which direction the Internet should go. Zuckerberg was quoted as saying, “It’s a competition of philosophies and ideas where they believe by integrating everything tightly together they create a better consumer experience.”
Meta is preparing for the Metaverse, with plans to invest $10 billion in the coming years. About 37 companies, including Microsoft, Meta, Epic Games and Sony, have formed the Metaverse Standards Forum for industry-wide collaboration on the interoperability standards required to build the Open Metaverse.
Apple is not part of this group and, according to Zuckerberg, for the metaverse, it’s not really clear whether an open or closed ecosystem would be better. Zuckerberg told employees to be prepared for the intense period ahead. That said, Apple is going to be a competitor. I think it’s pretty obvious, but it’s actually a pretty deep competitor.
Apple is likely to launch another Augmented Reality (AR) in 2025 that will be more affordable than the tech giant launching next year to join the metaverse race. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that the iPhone maker will launch high-performance and low-cost AR headset variants in 2025. The tech giant is also reportedly planning to launch Reality OS for its headsets.
