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STOCKHOLM, SE / ACCESSWIRE / June 9, 2022 / Adverty AB (STO:ADVT) Apple doesn't unveil new product categories very often - the last was the Apple Watch a full seven years ago - so the news that a seemingly finished mixed-reality headset was presented to the company's board last month counts as big news for Apple-watchers.
It's big news for metaverse-watchers, too. Other companies, most notably Meta, have made big bets on an immersive connected future, but if they are to tempt the mainstream, such experiences need compelling interfaces; they need hardware. And with all due respect to Meta's Oculus headsets, when Apple pulls back the curtain on virtual and augmented reality devices, that is the moment when things start to happen.
The VR/AR industry has been waiting for a newcomer like Apple to put the final gloss on a sector that has for years been a picture of potential, out on the margins. While the keynote at Apple's recent Worldwide Developers Conference didn't signal any new VR/AR hardware - or any new mobile devices at all, suggesting further announcements later this year - there is a significant focus on AR content in the week-long programme.
If the persistent rumours of a possible new Apple device are accurate, we could be about to witness the world's biggest consumer tech game-changer giving its stamp of approval to the entire mixed-reality concept.
In fact, like tectonic plates shifting before our eyes, the landscape of the metaverse can already be seen grinding into position on numerous fronts.
To add to Meta and Apple's moves, Sony and Lego each recently handed $1bn to Epic Games to fund metaverse development. Sony has PS5 VR headsets of its own in the pipeline and Microsoft has made its own clear metaverse play with the almost $69bn acquisition of Activision. Some reports have even suggested Apple - along with Disney and Amazon - as a potential buyer of Electronic Arts, creator of Madden, Apex Legends and Battlefield.
The gaming space is the most obvious forerunner of Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney's vision of the metaverse as a vast network of spaces where "players can have fun with friends, brands can build creative and immersive experiences, and creators can build a community and thrive".
Apple has its own hardware-driven ways to make money out of the metaverse, but for other interested parties, the involvement of brands is crucial. Both Sony and Microsoft have recently indicated their interest in in-game advertising on their gaming platforms. Like the internet, like the physical world, the metaverse needs ads, and it also needs ways of serving them and measuring their impact.