Apple’s Tim Cook on Thursday highlighted the company’s plans to step into the metaverse and invest to explore its potential.
On Thursday, in a report from Business Insider, Cook was asked about the opportunities offered by the metaverse. Tim Cook provided insight into what the future of the metaverse could hold for Apple, stating:
Well, that’s a big question. But we are an innovation company, so we are always exploring new and emerging technologies. And I’ve talked extensively about how this area is very interesting for us … Right now we have more than 14,000 ARKit apps in the App Store, which today provide incredible AR experiences for millions of people … We see a lot here potential in space, and invest accordingly.
Augmented Reality (AR) is one of the ways that people can enter virtual worlds that make up the metaverse through AR headsets. ARKit is Apple’s development platform for such apps.
While the metaverse refers to the virtual worlds where people can create their own avatars that work, play, learn and even build.
The popularity of the metaverse started in 2021, when Facebook rebranded itself and became known as Meta. Since then, several major corporate giants have jumped into space, such as Samsung opening its shop in the metaverse, or the Australian Open hosting the Grand Slam tournament in a virtual world mirroring the live event.
In December, Eric Sheridan, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, noted that virtual worlds could be worth $8 trillion, reiterating what Morgan Stanley predicted that monetizing AR consumers in the US alone would be such a hefty sum. yield.
Tim Cook’s comments came in a call from analysts to discuss Apple’s fiscal first quarter earnings report, released Thursday after the market closes. While the company reports that revenue is up 11% year-over-year to $123.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021.
