New job listings at Apple suggest that the Cupertino company could be accelerating its venture into augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). This comes a few days after metaverse parent Meta laid off more than 11,000 employees to scale back its expenses.
New Job Listings from Apple Suggest Metaverse Project
While Meta has been up and about in the promotion of its heavily criticized metaverse agenda, Apple has been taking small steps in joining the metaverse race for some years now.
Back in 2017, Bloomberg reported that the Apple company had been developing an AR wearable that could be released to the public as early as 2020.
The same report also said that this could be Apple's next flagship product. It was even reported at the time that the AR device could have its own display, chip, and operating display.
But no such device was released in 2020, and there has not been any official word from Apple about such an AR device timeline. However, these job listings, which Coingeek discovered, indicate that the company may soon resume its plans to release its own AR wearable.
In November, Apple posted over 30 new positions for software designers and engineers in virtual and augmented reality. One of these jobs is for a network engineer with AR/VR who will create frameworks and tools "to enable connected experiences in a 3D mixed reality world."
The job listing featured a variety of engineering positions with various specializations, but what binds them all together is the emphasis on augmented reality and virtual reality media.
Could Apple follow Meta's lead in pushing for the metaverse after Facebook's parent company had clearly fallen short of its metaverse ambitions?
This is possible, but Apple will not refer to it as the metaverse.
Apple's CEO Tim Cook made it clear a month ago that the company would avoid using the term because it only confuses users. "I always think it's important that people understand what something is. And I'm really not sure the average person can tell you what the metaverse is," he stated.
A New Metaverse Player?
According to CNBC, Meta is going through a rough patch as its shares continue to plummet. Meta previously reported a second straight quarter of declining revenue, and they are now projecting a third decline in the fourth quarter, which will keep their 2022 shares in freefall.
Additionally, Meta predicted that by 2023, Reality Labs' operating losses would have significantly risen year over year. The division behind the metaverse, "Reality Labs," only brought in $285 million in revenue in the most recent quarter or 1% of the company's total revenue.
Investors were alarmed by Meta's rising costs and expenses, which rose 19% year over year in the third quarter to $22.1 billion. Reuters reported that an operating cash flow of $59 billion from the previous year supported Zuckerberg's metaverse-centric initiative.
Apple could learn a thing or two from what happened to Zuckerberg's metaverse ambitions.
How much of the metaverse Apple plans to investigate is still unknown. The headset will reportedly be released in Q1 of next year, according to numerous reports. The new headset could put Apple in the lead in the metaverse thanks to its own operating system, RealityOS, and a dozen cameras.
