Is Apple’s AR headset game changer for the Metaverse?
4 min readDo you hear that The mixed reality hype train is rolling again. This time behind the wheel: Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. With the announcement of the “Apple Vision Pro” yesterday, June 5, 2023, the most valuable tech company in the world ushered in a new “era of spatial computing”. The 3,500 USD augmented reality headset is Apple’s first new product in almost a decade. And maybe a game changer for Krypto and the Metaverse.
At least that’s how many crypto sparrows whistle from the Twitter rooftops. The tenor: Apple has revived the dead dream of virtual reality with its keynote. “The Metaverse is closer than you think.” Or: “The Metaverse is coming.” Days before the announcement, calls were made to buy the tokens of well-known Metaverse projects such as The Sandbox or Decentraland. The big moonshot didn’t happen. And many unanswered questions.
Proclaimed 2021 by Mark Zuckerberg, not much is left of the wet tech dream of digital parallel reality – apart from evil memes. It was a crash landing for Meta’s image and finances. The blockchain projects, fueled by hype to new all-time highs, preparing to build these “revolutionary parallel worlds” fell off the cliffs of reality. Disappointing experiences, hardly any users, powdered courses. So Apple as the savior?
The term “metaverse” is nowhere mentioned in Apple’s keynote. Very conscious. As early as September 2022, Tim Cook said, the Apple CEO: “I’m not sure the average person knows what the metaverse is.” And on the idea of virtual reality, total immersion: “I don’t think you want to live your whole life like this.” The Vision Pro paves another way into the future: Augmented Reality.
Five sensors, six microphones and a 3D camera: Huge, virtual screens can be planted in the field of vision to surf the Internet, record moments or watch 3D films, gamble and work. It is controlled with eyes, hands and voice. The ideal: Smart glasses that add a digital reality to everyday life – not devour it.
But this vision will still take a long time before it reaches the mainstream: the Vision Pro should start in 2024 and is aimed at developers and enthusiasts in terms of design and high price. The software was decisive for the success of the iPhone, i.e. the App Store. The native “killer apps” for the Vision Pro are still missing and it is up to the developers who have the necessary financial means to buy the device to provide the software for future iterations.
Crypto needs to save itself
The ball is now on the side of Web3-Space itself. If you were to play so-called blockchain metaverses such as Decentraland or The Sandbox on these glasses today, you would be shocked. About how bad these virtual experiences still feel, clunky and cheap. There is also another problem: Apple maintains its store as a walled garden, crypto wants to be open – at least according to the claim. Basic philosophies collide that are not so easy to resolve. Apple will rely on Web2 infrastructure for its headset, warns journalist Andrew Wall. Worst-case scenario, crypto has to stay out.
“It’s not yet clear whether the new device will inspire Web3 developers to create new wearables with similar capabilities, or whether Apple will eventually embrace Web3 platforms and applications into its far-reaching, multidimensional ecosystem,” writes Web3 expert Rosie Perper on Coindesk.
🌶️ Hot Take 🥵#WWDC23 will not be a Web3 catalyst (today)
Apple Reality Pro will be marketed as a VR/AR play, through Web2 infrastructure
Tim Cook won’t sabotage $AAPL by mentioning “Metaverse” “crypto” “NFT” pic.twitter.com/dkE4A0lXzY
— AndrewWall.eth (@AwallCrypto) June 5, 2023
All these people calling metaverse coins like $SAND because of Vision Pro are overgeneralising distinct factions of technological development.
If anything, the headset’s success would go to show that $SAND and $MANA ‘s visual representation of a metaverse is misaligned w @Apple
— AceKillaGorilla.eth (❤️🔥,🦍) (@acekillagorilla) June 6, 2023
However, some blockchain projects could actually benefit from the new hype. The developers of Wilder World write in a blog post. “We believe it’s possible for Wilder World to become a killer app on the Apple headset and our team has been strategically building for this moment for several years.” Your Metaverse is still in alpha, but already looks more appealing than many current spinoffs because it’s based on the Unreal 5 engine, cutting-edge technology.
Render, the outperformer of the year among altcoins, is doing particularly well. Hollywood and Silicon Valley stars as consultants, an Oscar-winning founder: The project wants to revolutionize 3D art with blockchain technology. The company behind it, OTOY, has a partnership with Apple. Your Octane Renderer will be pre-installed on all devices, giving you access to the render network. This provides computing power for payment in tokens or soon FIAT money.
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