The CEO of Apple believes that a new technology will define the future.
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook revealed that he is not a fan of the metaverse— despite his competitors going all in with investments into the latest craze.
Instead, the influential tech leader believes that a new technology will emerge and define the future, but metaverse is just not it.
“I always think it’s important that people understand what something is,” the Apple CEO told Dutch publication Bright on Friday. “And I’m really not sure the average person can tell you what the metaverse is.”
The metaverse, dubbed as the future of interactions, is enabled by virtual reality and augmented reality headgear, and consists of a network of three-dimensional virtual environments focused on social interaction.
Many of the biggest names in technology are striving to create the gear and software required for people to spend a lot of time — and money — in the metaverse, even though these virtual worlds already exist, in some form.
The technology, for example, has been a big topic for Mark Zuckerberg due to his Meta platform. Plans for the metaverse have also been laid forth by businesses like Disney and Microsoft.
But after the Apple CEO’s statement, it is not surprising to see that the tech giant has yet to make plans when it comes to the rising trend of the metaverse.
Some analysts argue that the hoopla around the metaverse is somewhat real since people are unsure of what it will be. The inherent excitement around the idea was summed up in June by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who stated that “there’s not an agreement on what the metaverse is.”
Evan Spiegel, the CEO of Snap, described the concept of the metaverse as “ambiguous and hypothetical.” He has instead promoted his company’s plans for augmented reality (AR), which combines virtual objects and pictures with the actual world.
Cook is also a strong supporter of augmented reality, and according to Bloomberg, Apple is working on an AR/VR headset that might be released in 2023. He said AR technology “will go much, much further” than its current uses in the future.
“I think AR is a profound technology that will affect everything,” Cook said.
“Imagine suddenly being able to teach with AR and demonstrate things that way. Or medically, and so on. Like I said, we are really going to look back and think about how we once lived without AR.”
Before speaking at the University of Naples Federico II’s commencement ceremony last week, Cook visited the UK and Germany as part of a European trip.
During a Q&A session after the ceremony, Cook predicted that ultimately, people would compare augmented reality to the internet since both are pervasive and difficult to live without.
“Zoom out to the future and look back, you’ll wonder how you led your life without augmented reality,” Cook said.
“Just like, today, we wonder: ‘How did people like me grow up without the internet?'”
