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- Snap is focused on augmented reality.
- Meta’s FRL arm which handles metaverse reported massive losses in Q3.
- Meta spent $10 billion on Metaverse in 2021 alone.
Evan Spiegel’s two cents on Metaverse
In a conference with The Wall Street Journal, Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel rejected the idea of Metaverse, Meta’s mixed reality device. The Spiegel said the Metaverse was akin to living inside of a computer:
“The metaverse is ‘living inside of a computer.’ The last thing I want to do when I get home from work during a long day is live inside of a computer,” said the Snapchat CEO.
Last year Facebook founder and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Metaverse which the social media giant touts as “the next evolution in social connection and the successor to the mobile internet.” Metaverse will use mixed reality to enable social connection.
Snap has focused on augmented reality instead of virtual reality. While virtual reality essentially refers to digitally produced spaces, augmented reality on the other hand is the creation of building digital information on real spaces. Essentially, VR enables a person to experience a different space from the physical space; while AR enables a person to visualize animations with respect to real spaces. Snap’s Spectacles which are a pair of glasses fitted with 2 cameras are being used by developers and creators. As of now, the device is not ready for the mass market.
In an interview with The Guardian, Spiegel mentioned that his company does not use the word “Metaverse” and called it “ambiguous and hypothetical.” He added that Snap believed that people love to interact in person and not
Spiegel is not the only one criticizing Metaverse. Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple does not use the word “Metaverse” because it is yet to be understood by the average person. Grimes reportedly called Metaverse “bad art” and said that Zuckerberg was not qualified to run Metaverse.
Metaverse and the AR-VR revolution
Metaverse is like a highly futuristic video game where experiences won’t be limited to the game’s in-built world. Here’s a simple explanation of what it is: combine VR, AR, blockchain, social media and AI (to make it simple, skip the complicated things). The result is an online VR-AR space which allows us to interact with others in the form of avatars. People can work, play, connect and even own merch and do a lot more. Shopping will become ridiculously easy – from cars to tarts, you would have so much information about products while sitting on your couch!
Metaverse requires the advancement of multiple technologies. These include VR, AR, Head mounted devices (HMD), 5G, Spatial computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), flexible work-styles, AR cloud and the Internet of Things (IoT). Cost of raw materials and research being the denominator, it is obvious that it will take a long time before Metaverse officially replaces the internet.
According to Gartner, by 2026, people will spend a minimum of 1 hour on the Metaverse for a variety of uses – shopping, education, social media and entertainment.
While Facebook is not the only company investing in augmented and virtual reality, it is certainly the most heavily invested. The company invested $10 billion in Metaverse in 2021 alone.
Other big companies which have invested in AR and VR include Google, Apple, Microsoft, Valve and Magic Leap. Apart from Google, which had reasonable success with its ‘Cardboard,’ other companies are yet to pitch products to the “average man.”
Snap’s AR experiments show the company’s ambition to compete in the AR race. While Spectacles are being used by AR designers and creators at the moment, it won’t be long before the device is open to the general public.
Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while pursuing his post-graduation major in blockchain development. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing, along with coding. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing skills, and a reliable craft at explaining the concepts such as blockchain programming, languages and token minting. He also frequently shares technical details and performance indicators of ICOs and IDOs.
