According to reports, where is the Metaverse? Anyone following this week’s keynote at Apple’s annual developer conference expecting a more immersive 3D digital world will be disappointed. Reality headset, nor ARKit, the software platform that helps developers build related apps.
The Metaverse has also been surprisingly absent from the Google and Microsoft developer conferences over the past month. Whatever plans these companies have in place to develop what may be the most important technological breakthrough in computing since the smartphone, they’re not ready for a public pitch.
The annual developer conference is a momentous occasion for leading tech companies, where they try to push the world’s software developers to build applications that attract billions of people to use their platforms. Yet despite the high expectations, these companies are still very cautious about the Metaverse, which is remarkable.
Such a low profile inevitably leaves the outside world feeling that these companies still believe that it is too early to bring Metaverse technology to the mass market. Or, at least they haven’t figured out how to incorporate metaverse technology into their business. Only Meta has been pushing the concept of a metaverse to find a new future outside of social networking businesses like Facebook.
The companies’ recent caution suggests that the industry is still grappling with two issues plaguing the future of the Metaverse. One of them is that it is still difficult to design a headset that many people will want to wear for long periods of time.
As early as 10 years ago, Google launched Google Glass, a lightweight augmented reality device. In addition, it has been 8 years since Facebook acquired virtual reality company Oculus, and it has been 7 years since Microsoft launched the augmented reality headset HoloLens.
Where the future lies, however, remains unclear: is it a bulky, fully immersive VR headset, glasses that are easy to put on and take off, or something based on something in between? Much like the smartphone world before the iPhone, the tech industry is still waiting for a killer product to show the way for the future of “vision-first computing.”
The second reason most tech companies are wary of the metaverse is that it is still not well-defined. It is easy for the outside world to understand what a full virtual reality world is, but not so easy to understand how virtual and reality can be brought together in a less immersive way.
Does this involve pasting digital information into real-world footage, like in the cockpit of a fighter jet? Or is it like enjoying digital entertainment in front of an IMAX screen? Or interact with virtual characters that look very real?
Pushing developers to premature goals too soon can backfire, as happened when Google released Glass in 2012. Google openly invited developers to build apps, but it actually resulted in a lot of waste, while not taking one step closer to revealing the future of augmented reality.
Meta is pushing for fully immersive virtual reality, but the average user might find Meta’s point less convincing. As the company demonstrated three years ago, running a business meeting with a legless avatar in a virtual reality world is both mundane and embarrassing.
The metaverse may have more explicit applications when it comes to specific corporate scenarios. Microsoft, for example, has been pushing hard for companies to build “digital twins” of systems in office buildings or production lines, so companies can better understand how some changes will affect their businesses.
But for most people, it’s still unclear which apps are important enough to warrant a special headset. This has led to a very cautious approach by big tech companies so far.
At this year’s developer conference, Google’s only mention of augmented reality was when it showed off a translation app. People wearing smart glasses can read subtitles while watching others talk in various languages. That’s in stark contrast to the gimmicky Google Glass introduced 10 years ago.
For now, standing still makes sense. Apple is reportedly moving forward with some demo projects to fully demonstrate its augmented reality headset. Apple could still launch the product later this year.
Most big tech companies are making low-key moves into the metaverse. But it’s important to note that when the starting gun finally fires, competition for the next generation of mass-market computing platforms will be fierce.
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