Mark Zuckerberg vs. Apple Vision Pro

Since Apple unveiled its Apple Vision Pro last Monday, a new device from Cupertino gave much, much to talk about. This is logical and expected, since rumors and leaks about Apple’s jump into the field of mixed reality and artificial reality have been in the air for years, its presentation at WWDC 2023 has been an open secret for months. And despite all the noise, it’s fair to say that Apple really surprised us all a revolutionary concept.

I recognized it myself after his presentation I now understand why Tim Cook showed so much enthusiasm (according to leaks) from Apple Vision Pro and goes far beyond just a browser. Thanks to their ability to choose names, the Cupertinos invented the space computer category, which refers to a device with computing capacity comparable to a computer, but used as wearable, something for which we will only need the browser itself and its battery or cable to connect to the electrical network. And yes, I know it may seem like we are talking about a laptop, but of course with the difference that the vast majority of its components are located in the viewfinder.

While of course there are opinions for all tastes, generally the reception of the device itself as a concept has been extremely positive and the first testimonials from people who have tried it confirm that it really has potential. to indicate a material change in the way we interact with products, services and content. yes indeed As we expected, no one, neither in the event nor afterwards, remembered the Metaverse. And yes, I say we expected it, because we already knew at the beginning of last year that the Apple browser would not be the door to Zuckerberg’s proposal, which became even more evident when Tim Cook spoke on the subject again.

This premeditated omission, while predictable, may not have been funny to Meta, and as we can read in Business Insider, Mark Zuckerberg would be posted criticizing the Apple Vision Pro in a meeting with Meta staff, in a line of argument in which undoubtedly the most striking element is that he attributed to the presentation of the device that all that could be seen all along were people and they were sitting.

Although this is not entirely true as we have occasionally seen people in a work environment and interacting with other peoplethe premise is understood, stating that the Apple Vision Pro is a device oriented towards many individual activities, compared to the Metaverse proposal, which essentially consists of a 100% social environment in which we will always communicate with other users of the same.

This is fine as a theoretical premise, but recall that Meta herself defined the Metaverse as a sad and empty place, suggesting that at least with the current state of technology, a proposal in which individual activities prevail may be much more appropriate than Zuckerberg’s. And the fact that a lot of the activity is done sitting down… that shocks me, coming from the boss of a company that took a year to announce that they were adding legs to avatars, and to top it off, it wasn’t really true.

As I said before Metaverse is an open wound for Meta and for Mark Zuckerberg, and that Apple has chosen to ignore this space in its long-awaited debut in the world of virtual reality and augmented reality can be taken with a grain of salt. However, I am very concerned that the words of the founder of the social network attack, even if unintentionally, his failed project rather than Apple’s augmented reality browser. Maybe in a few years, and probably after a reformulation, the Metaverse or its evolution will become something successful. But for now, at least, nothing seems to have changed on the bet that cost the company nearly 20% of its value.