Apple officially declares war on Meta

Apple officially introduced the Vision Pro mixed reality headset at WWDC 2023, which is also when the iPhone maker and parent company Facebook entered the arena. Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg both believe that in the new era of personal computing, people will wear headsets to enter virtual worlds and interact with 3D objects. Cook calls this “spatial computing,” while Zuckerberg uses the term “metaverse.” Related technologies are virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), or mixed reality.

Facebook jumped into the market nine years ago when it acquired startup Oculus for $2 billion. In late 2021, the company changed its name to Meta, and Zuckerberg pledged to spend billions of dollars each quarter to develop VR and AR technology for the metaverse.

Meta now has a large share of the nascent market, beating rivals like Sony, HTC, and Magic Leap in headset sales. Research firm CCS Insight said that VR and AR headset shipments in 2022 will decline 12% to 9.6 million units compared to 2021.

Some analysts say Apple’s entry into the market could provide a much-needed boost to consumer interest in the technology. If any company has the potential to transform the VR market overnight, it’s Apple, according to CCS Insight analyst Leo Gebbie.

Apple hasn’t said exactly when the Vision Pro will go on sale, though, beyond early next year. More importantly, it’s not for the masses, at least initially, given its $3,499 price tag. That should give Zuckerberg some breathing room, since the VR headset Meta is selling is much cheaper. The $300 Quest 2 and $500 Quest 3 will hit shelves this fall. Meta’s Reality Labs division, which develops hardware and software for the metaverse, lost $13.72 billion last year and $3.99 billion in the first quarter of this year.

For Zuckerberg, the key is to turn mixed reality into a business opportunity. Unlike Google or Apple, Meta doesn’t own an operating system. Android and iOS bring in billions of dollars in revenue, helping them dominate the smartphone market and set the rules that third-party developers like Facebook must play by.

Apple's 2021 iOS privacy changes are set to cost Facebook billions of dollars over the next year. They limit Facebook and other social networks' ability to track users across the web and deliver targeted ads, severely impacting online advertising.

Zuckerberg has spoken out more than once about unfair iOS and App Store policies. Meta asserts that by removing the ability to target ads, Apple is hurting many small businesses that use Facebook’s advertising model to effectively reach new customers.

In November 2022, at a conference, Zuckerberg declared that Apple considered itself the only company seeking to unilaterally control the applications on its devices.

For his part, Cook has criticized Facebook for making money from users’ personal information rather than selling products people want to buy. In 2021, he linked Facebook’s model to real-world consequences like violence and reduced trust in government Covid policies.

“If a company is built on deceiving users, exploiting data, it doesn’t deserve any credit. It needs to reform,” Cook said at a privacy conference in Brussels, Belgium. He did not name Facebook.

By building its own metaverse, Meta can avoid Apple’s control and write its own rules. But it’s a risky bet. Apple, meanwhile, knows how to make a product for the masses, whether it’s a computer, a digital music player, a smartphone, a tablet, or a watch. It also has a new operating system for the Vision Pro, called visionOS. That means Meta and Apple will be competing to attract developers to their side.

Disney delivered some pretty bad news for Meta at WWDC 2023. After killing off the metaverse division, Disney said its streaming service would be available on Apple’s new device. While some Disney content is already available on Quest, the studio’s executive said the experience on Vision Pro will be entirely new. “We believe Apple Vision Pro is a revolutionary platform that will make our vision a reality,” the Disney executive told the event audience.

(According to CNBC)

Apple introduces Vision Pro glasses, priced at $3,499 After several years of delay, Apple has officially entered the virtual reality device market with the Vision Pro glasses at the WWDC 2023 event.

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