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As per the details of an internal meeting obtained by The Verge, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has told employees that their competition with Apple over metaverse is a “very deep, philosophical competition.”
Metaverse is the latest trend among Big Tech. Every company is trying to be the leader in this emerging, virtual market. Meta and Apple are two great rivals in developing metaverse-related products. Zuckerberg is now pointing to Apple and their greatest rival for selling VR hardware.
Zuckerberg had a meeting with Meta employees earlier this month and told them that their competition with Apple determines “what direction the internet should go in.” Meta has also determined its strategies. As per Zuckerberg’s talks, Meta could be a more open, cheaper alternative to Apple. Given that Apple products are mostly expensive and the company usually prefers to have a closed ecosystem.
“This is a competition of philosophies and ideas, where they believe that by doing everything themselves and tightly integrating that, they build a better consumer experience,” Zuckerberg noted. “And we believe that there is a lot to be done in specialization across different companies, and [that] will allow a much larger ecosystem to exist.”
Meta and Apple are ready to butt heads over metaverse market share
Zuckerberg is heavily focused on developing metaverse hardware, and his latest decision to rebrand Facebook as Meta reflects this. Meta has also recently formed the Metaverse Open Standards Group with Microsoft, Epic Games, and other well-known companies. Since Apple is Meta’s direct rival in the metaverse, its absence in this group should not surprise you.
On the other hand, Apple is likely to reveal its first VR headset later this year. The CEO, Tim Cook, has also asserted the company’s ambitions for entering the metaverse market. However, Apple is much more conservative than Meta and prefers to keep everything private. That’s why there is still no actual news about Apple’s metaverse hardware.
Zuckerberg also believes that Apple’s tight control over its ecosystem may not work in the metaverse. “It’s not really clear upfront whether an open or closed ecosystem is going to be better,” Zuckerberg said.
Meta is currently working on its Project Cambria VR headset, and the company even gave some blurred details of it a few months ago. Besides Project Cambria, Meta is also developing a pair of smart glasses that will reportedly launch in 2024.