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Apple CEO Tim Cook: 'I'm Not Really Sure the Average Person Can Tell You What the Metaverse Is'

ikramerica said:
No doubt. I am so grateful that on a construction jobsight I can pull up pdfs of appliances and lighting and materials orders and have questions answered immediately vs. having to wait a day or longer vs. the pre-internet days of simply not having access to that information in a timely manner at all. AR may be even more helpful.
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Yeah, I think this is a technology that has real commercial applications. On the consumer side, of course there will be the games and porn, but there's real world value in having a heads up display always available on the commercial side.

Games will take time to develop beyond a novelty, professional applications will be niche and specialized but carry real economic value, porn will fund the technology development through the early adopter phase.
 
ikramerica said:
Your kid’s school has a portal and google classroom and some new messaging app and online textbook companies and some account for news, etc.
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Of all of them, this is the one that bothers me the most. In part because educators know kids need to be "tech savvy" but aren't tech savvy themselves, and partly because schools are underfunded, they rely on "free" tools, most of which ensure kids start getting profiled as young as possible. And there's no opt out... If you want your kid educated, they have to use these tools.
 
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A lot of people are thinking of AR and the metaverse from a consumer/consumption/social point of view, but there's so much more. Science, medicine, construction, travel, research.... AR is going to play a huge role in these practical arenas. This is what Tim is referring to.
 
nwcs said:
Eventually I think people will tire of it. It's the same exact stuff as reality but repackaged for resale. Another form of escapism and fantasy until reality intervenes one way or another.
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This is just a small fraction of how the technology will be used. Sure, some consumers may tire of it, just like they do of social media and horrible website experiences today. But in other areas — science, construction, vehicle design, travel — these areas will get a huge boost from AR and the metaverse.
 
triptolemus said:
Guess I'm old (46). I don't want anything to do with this ar/metaverse nonsense at all. I don't want a headset. I don't want glasses. I don't want implants. And I'm super tired of being presented with for-profit visions of the future.
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Don't worry man, the Sun is going to burn out, so nothing really matters.
 
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ikramerica said:
Data scraping has ruined technology. You must agree to data scraping now to do the most basic of things in many instances. You can’t even play a simple game you paid for without it contacting 30 data collection companies.

It’s like you need a burner smart phone just to navigate the world now. And as you pointed out, you are often no longer allowed to participate in many aspects of daily life without using a proprietary app.

Your doctor has a “portal”
Your kid’s school has a portal and google classroom and some new messaging app and online textbook companies and some account for news, etc.
Restaurants make you scan a QR code for a menu (snd scrape data).
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This right here is why I pretty much refuse to use non Apple products when it comes to mobile devices. I will use years-old devices if that's what I have to do to avoid Android. I do have a Kindle Fire that I use for learning foreign languages, but I'm very careful not to do anything terribly personal on it.

Even with me locking down as many trackers as I can and being very wary of what I install, anything I do on the tablet still very much reflects on the ads I get from Google. They track those things like crazy, it's insane how fast it picks things up. I can't install two apps and make three searches without me getting bombarded a few hours later with ads related to it.
 
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boyarka said:
I know what it is: a gimmick.
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Yep in summary...

- Meta is like Alphabet. Big companies restructure by top-hatting themselves like that in order to reduce their tax liabilities. That is all (nothing exciting or tech related).

- AR's just a buzz word for Pokemon Go. My futurist prediction is that we're gonna start to simplify things and increasingly 'disconnect' as we start to improve our understanding of how data mining works (and how such data is used/hacked...etc).
 
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coolfactor said:
A lot of people are thinking of AR and the metaverse from a consumer/consumption/social point of view, but there's so much more. Science, medicine, construction, travel, research.... AR is going to play a huge role in these practical arenas. This is what Tim is referring to.
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Apple is a multi trillion dollar company making consumer tech as well though. They're not in the niche businesses of making cutting edge medical or aviation hardware.

Just like most people here, I find the Metaverse is an outrageously expensive marketing campaign at best or a huge stock pumping scam at worst. Having said that, Tim Cook sounds just as much a snake oil salesman as Zuck or Musk here.
"I'm really not sure the average person can tell you what the metaverse is"- source for that?
"I think AR is a profound technology that will affect everything. Like I said, we are really going to look back and think about how we once lived without AR"- did he say anything to support these very bold statements? Is it just because he's seen Apple's upcoming AR/VR headset/glasses/whatever that he'll have to sell come January? I really do hope the 3k starting price turns out to be true, the Appleverse will go down in flames too and I'll be watching with my popcorn.
 
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Can someone define the MetaVerse to me? I am in information technology, I follow the news and trends, and I can't figure out what exactly they mean when they say it.
 
DarthBuzzard said:
I recommend looking at the twitter account @PessimistsArc.

It has countless newspaper examples of middle aged or elderly folk rallying against technologies going back almost 200 years. This is a never-ending cycle of luddism and countless examples where every technology we hold dear today was rallied against.
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And I recommend you review the 10x as many examples of utupian futures predicted that never panned out. The future is unpredictable, full-stop.
 
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DarthBuzzard said:
I recommend looking at the twitter account @PessimistsArc.

It has countless newspaper examples of middle aged or elderly folk rallying against technologies going back almost 200 years. This is a never-ending cycle of luddism and countless examples where every technology we hold dear today was rallied against.
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I had to mute that account after originally enjoying it a lot, because it’s author seems to double down on “of people are pessimistic about a piece of tech, it’s especially likely to succeed”, which is nonsense.
 
Good old Tim. He's got another glass rectangle for you all next year, it's probably going to be very similar to last years glass rectangle possibly more expensive ...
 
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triptolemus said:
Guess I'm old (46). I don't want anything to do with this ar/metaverse nonsense at all. I don't want a headset. I don't want glasses. I don't want implants. And I'm super tired of being presented with for-profit visions of the future.
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Agreed.

...augmented reality - becase reality (*reality*) is now unacceptable... Awesome.
 
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djgamble said:
Yep in summary...

- Meta is like Alphabet. Big companies restructure by top-hatting themselves like that in order to reduce their tax liabilities. That is all (nothing exciting or tech related).

- AR's just a buzz word for Pokemon Go. My futurist prediction is that we're gonna start to simplify things and increasingly 'disconnect' as we start to improve our understanding of how data mining works (and how such data is used/hacked...etc).
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Well in all honesty there is ONE utility for "metaverse" and "AR" - much the same as with those investors who buy vintage game catridges and/or "cryptocurrency" - a chance to ride the upwards wave of potential investment into vaporware.

Besides that it's like you say, Pokemon Go. There are of course some niche uses for AR like say interior design, prototyping of... whatever else. Gaming to some extent though ever since Oculus has been hyped up there have been SOME titles released for VR gaming but then again real hard core gaming is still just a screen, mouse and a keyboard. And that's after what... 30 years of all kinds of development?
I 'member there was even a very short-lived (even shorter than home 3D TV sets) attempt by who I forget... maybe Nvidia, to introduce some lame 3D glasses for 3D gaming. Yeah, why not halve the framerate and get a headache at the same time.

But back to reality: when was "metaverse" launched? Where are all those "purchases of meta property"? Much like the tulips in Holland back when that bubble started. Or, I don't know... Harbo? He he.
 
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boyarka said:
Besides that it's like you say, Pokemon Go. There are of course some niche uses for AR like say interior design, prototyping of... whatever else.
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I am thinking of how smartphones are now considered an indispensable part of our daily lives. We bring them everywhere we go, and so many functions today assume we have a smartphone on hand.

Smartwatches aren't as indispensable, but I do wear an Apple Watch daily, and it brings numerous conveniences with it.

I am thinking AR glasses will also assume that the user has them on 24/7, and it will probably have some nice little conveniences along with it. Particularly for people like myself who are already wearing glasses anyways, so assuming it has enough battery life to last the day, and has no long-term impact to my eyesight.

Only problem will be the inevitable replacing of them every 2-4 years, as the battery invariably wears out. Specs already aren't cheap (if you are like me and opt for multi-coated lens with titanium frames for weight), all the more when they have tech built inside.

But I guess if it's anyone with the disposable income for a new product category, it's the Apple user base.
 
boyarka said:
Gaming to some extent though ever since Oculus has been hyped up there have been SOME titles released for VR gaming but then again real hard core gaming is still just a screen, mouse and a keyboard. And that's after what... 30 years of all kinds of development?
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Yeah. There was a hype when Oculus arrived, and competitors like HTC Vive came on the space, and then Google Cardboard and PlayStation VR and… not that much happened.

Walking around Google Earth in VR is a very, very cool tech demo, but not very useful. Beat Saber is perhaps the closest to what I would consider a VR killer app.

Metaverse? I’ve done the “walk around as an avatar and meet friends in a virtual space” thing twenty years ago (Uru Live). At the time, with a projector, which made avatars fairly life-like in size. It is neat. Doing with VR glasses, I’m sure, adds to the realism and/or brings us closer to the uncanny valley.

But what Mark is envisioning is silly. We’re not gonna work like that. We’re not gonna spend hours every day of our leisure time like that. Some will. Most won’t.

boyarka said:
when was "metaverse" launched? Where are all those "purchases of meta property"?
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I think it’s been in closed beta? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon_Worlds

But also, it looks about as good as Second Life, so it’s not exactly taking the world by storm.

Abazigal said:
I am thinking of how smartphones are now considered an indispensable part of our daily lives. We bring them everywhere we go, and so many functions today assume we have a smartphone on hand.

Smartwatches aren't as indispensable, but I do wear an Apple Watch daily, and it brings numerous conveniences with it.
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One neat thing is that the Apple Watch allows me to carry my iPhone less.
 
coolfactor said:
A lot of people are thinking of AR and the metaverse from a consumer/consumption/social point of view, but there's so much more. Science, medicine, construction, travel, research.... AR is going to play a huge role in these practical arenas. This is what Tim is referring to.
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Spot on.

So many people who reuse to flex their imagination believe it's a game or toy.

I'm really looking forward to Apple's presentation of their AR product. Hopefully that will open a few eyes and imaginations.
 
NARadyk said:
I’m not really sure anyone the average person can tell the difference between the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14.
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I’d say most could not tell you much about about the differences of any modern phone except what marketing tells them.
 
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