Apple Metaverse: May be late, but not forthcoming.

When Zuckerberg shared his thoughts on the metaverse on Facebook, he said he wanted it to be a larger open ecosystem, not a "walled garden." It's Zuckerberg's subtle change about Apple and its closed ecosystem. In fact, when American tech companies such as Microsoft, Meta, and Nvidia competed for the meta world, they created their own "Apple Store" under their own name.

Recently, the news that Apple will be releasing AR glasses next year has warmed the market for a while, but Cook's attitude is vague about "talking but shy" in the meta world quickly for hopes and aspirations. people. “Centralization” is incompatible with Apple's closed ecosystem, but there is still plenty of room for reflection in Apple's meta-world. If Apple replaces the iPhone with AR in the next ten years, it will have more than one billion iPhone users. Think about it, that means. that Apple will sell 1 billion AR devices over the next 10 years, and even Cook Cook, who has been praised for entering the meta world, has deliberately said, the global field meta will come ...

Apple is waiting for the unification of the meta world?

After Zuckerberg announced the concept of the metasite and changed Facebook's name to meta, more companies caught up with the metasite and the value of its products skyrocketed.Unlike most companies, Apple does not use the term "meta universe".

Current Apple CEO Cook said in an interview with Metauniverse: "I stay away from rumors."

Weng Dongdong, optoelectronic engineering expert at the Beijing Institute of Technology, director of the Intellectual Property Conference Center and deputy director of the Ministry of Tourism, told the "China Electronics News" reporter:Cook's denial of the meta world may result from his hostility towards his meta opponent.Ma Tianyi, senior analyst at Minsheng Securities Communications and Yuan Universe, shared the same thoughts in an interview with "China Electronics News".Apple's global sales of mobile phones and other hardware products are still far behind, and compared to Facebook's weak growth momentum, Apple does not need to make the transition This significant change.

Other voices in the industry believe Cook is developing a smoke detector that denies the global meta. In the meta world, Apple will be late but won't come. Ma Tianhao speculates, “It cannot be ruled out that Apple is still waiting for the opportunity to save money (in the meta-global zone).

"Fine hair comes together" may be named in Apple's DNA. Take, for example, the iPhone, which changes the whole development process of a smartphone. The birth of the iPhone has become a matter of highs and lows, and it dates back to the 1980s office touch phones and Nirvana, a smartphone named 'Purple No. 2'. Since the iPhone 2G was released on January 9, 2007, the iPhone has only been updated by several generations.

In early 2004, when a reporter asked Jobs, "Does Apple plan to launch its cell phone?" Jobs replied "No". Apple and Cook have no choice but to 'write' through the meta world until they announce their entry into the meta world.

Apple's meta world can be fun.

Compared to the iPhone, Apple has been offering AR headsets for over 10 years. According to public data, Apple has filed over 2,000 AR / VR-related patents since 2010 and Apple has invested or acquired more than 20 AR / VR-related companies in the bionic chip, ultra-chip market. broadband, and sensors. , and Micro LED. Applications include tracking and positioning displays, optical wave technology and cosmic fields.When it comes to VR / AR, Apple is clear that there are more and more issues that have already been mentioned.

"A nozzle pig can fly, but Apple should be accused of not flying high enough," GfK analyst Hou Lin told China Electronics News. Ma Tianyi thought, "Apple will not share its mission if the new technology is not fully realized, because content blindness affects the user the whole experience with the elements."

Apple is also very concerned about the potential impact on underperforming products on the company's stock price. “According to the company, if the response to new Apple products is not good after registration, we will have to pay the share price impact regularly with two or three items,” Hou Lin said.

Obviously, the market is more bullish and standards stricter for Apple, which has also delayed Apple's ambiguous attitude towards Metaverse. However, the "denial but welcome" attitude raises questions about the meta-benefit Apple will create. After all, with the help of an ecosystem developed by AR glasses and cellphones, Apple made enough money to enter the meta world. Apple's AR headset will focus on gaming, media, and communication. This greatly overlaps with the meta worldview.

Experts believe Apple's metamonde is fun, and people can use it every day. "Like the iPhone and Apple Watch, Apple wants AR headsets to be the home devices people use every day." Weng Dongdong believes that when Apple releases AR headphones, it will release more usable apps. , increased connectivity between products and consumers, and advanced applications such as AR navigation, immersive movies and television.

AR facility where users can use the lidar scanner to record and send videos with special effects

Hou Lin said, "Games are a concept that cannot be avoided even in the meta or VR world. He pointed out that in 2019, Apple has developed a number of Apple Arcade services if) according to the App Store. AR helmet launch scene.

According to the report, Apple Arcade users can enjoy all the games by paying the purchase price without any purchase. You can also run all your games offline and your game upgrades can sync across all devices as well. This service will be important to support users of active AR headsets.

Additionally, 3D avatars, AR / VR versions of Face Time chats and calls may be important applications in Apple's future meta-world.

The "decentralized" meta-world makes Apple very different.

As the meta world differs, a wave of tech giants is starting to emerge. Meta has not only partnered with Microsoft to extend enterprise-grade shared software content, but also a partnership with Amazon Cloud Technology (AWS), which will enable better integration into accounting, storage, database and security. . . Cloud computing based services. Experts predict that the meta will collaborate with many peers in the process of creating a meta world.

Compared to open meta and Microsoft, Apple's "self-closing" obviously has some differences. "Closed-loop ecology" is Apple's best and strongest. iOS, macOS, watchOS, and other operating systems developed by Apple for a variety of hardware devices are independent and interoperable. The closed ecosystem provides Apple with better and smarter operations, such as jettisoning, printing and gluing equipment, and more. .. The incidence of virus is more than 10 times lower than that of Android system, and more importantly, Apple also gets more "Apple tax" than Android.

Recently, Cook responded by stating that "Europe wants Apple to open download rights for third-party applications" and that "the easiest way for users is to switch to phone numbers."

Clearly, Apple is very stable on its closed ecosystem. Unless Apple wants to open up on its own, it's hard to fight on the outside to wrest the ecosystem from Apple. Compared to the “distributed and open” status of the global meta, Apple is clearly against it. Experts believe this could be the reason Cook has yet to say whether Apple will enter the meta world.

Ma Tianyi pointed out, "Currently, the business model of Metaverse and Apple is different. The default mode of operation of decentralized Metaverse and Apple is the middle business model. The quality of the green chain is not yet known."

However, some industry experts have pointed out that it is too early for Metaverse to discuss the issue of “distribution and openness” at this point. From Ma Tianyi's perspective, it is difficult to know the open and decentralized nature of the Metavers. The current challenge of the giants determines that the ecosystem is still closed. Second, the closed ecosystem of manufacturing companies can provide some of the functionality of a global meta-world. This is good news for closed ecosystem hardware manufacturers like Apple. Another industry expert said, “Shutting down the Apple ecosystem would be a great way to improve the experience of AR headset apps.

Apple's AR devices will struggle with “high and low music”.

Yuan Yu, an analyst at the Electronic Information Industry Research Center of CCID Consulting, told China Electronics News that Apple's model "improved product quality. For high-end products," probably because the door was closed and not visible. Excessive anticipation of events can lead to future marginalization by opening and opening the ecosystem. For example, Yuan Yu said, “In recent years, Apple TV, HomePod and other products have been leading the market and moving away from the world's main products. responnse.

Taking HomePod, the smart home products announced in 2017, as an example, Apple never announced the sale of HomePods, but according to third-party CIRP data, HomePod's share of the US market in the third quarter of 2019 only around the third quarter of 2019. 5%. And Amazon's Echo has a 70% share.

Yuan Yu said, “Compared to domestic smartphones, the iPhone has a premium rate of 45% to 55% excluding the price of BOM products, which makes it more profitable for Apple. Yuan Yu believes that it is difficult for Apple to open its ecosystem and its interactions. For AR or metaverse helmets. . Yuan Yu said, “From the current point of view, Apple's AR glasses will develop their own process to control the existing design and maintain the reputation of the Apple brand.

Today, a lot of things for Apple are going into AR / VR, just like when it comes to smart speakers. In 2017, the global smart speaker market was almost halved by Google Home and Amazon Echo, and the Chinese market was owned by many brands such as Xiaoai, Xiaodu Speaker, Tmall Elf and other yam. Apple HomePod enters the market for US $ 349 (later converted to US $ 299), and HomePod has a market share of around 5%, and the strong Apple ecosystem doesn't come as a HomePod LED option.

Apple's AR headset is also late this time around. Meta Quest, the global VR headset market, has two-thirds of the market (IDC data), and Microsoft takes the lead in MR / AR with a 28.8% market share. With us, companies like HTC, Pico, Dapeng, Nolo and iQiyi have carved out most of the market.

According to reports, the price of Apple's next AR headset is $ 1,000, and the Oculus Quest 2 is $ 299. Can an expensive AR headset be as high or as low as the HomePod? Or can it repeat the success of the iPhone?

Full of expectations on what the Apple meta edge will present

During the interviews, reporters explored whether they were experts and non-professionals, top-down companies in the chain industry, or market analysts. .There have been a few bad guys about the news that “Apple is about to release AR material,” and expectations are high for the release of the Apple meta-universe.

It's been five years since VR first launched in 2016, but HTC, Sony, and Oculus have failed to make VR / AR their best electronic device. The data won't lie, global VR headset shipments will reach 5 million units by 2020, and the global smartphone market has shipped up to 1.29 billion units at the same time (IDC data). For example, global shipments of Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo in the fourth quarter of 2021 were 44.3 million units, 33.3 million units and 33.2 million units, respectively. , has exceeded 10 million sales since early 2020.

The industry expects Apple to announce VR / AR products. , the use of events and business models may emerge as new stages.

“After Apple announced the AR glasses next year, we expect global AR shipments to reach tens of millions. Many names in the AR / VR industry are expected to be Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo. One administrator told reporters he had to vote. According to the mission statement, Apple's rich product matrix and software ecology also contributes to the success of AR hardware.

Li Zuxi, director of the Meta Universe Lab at Tsinghua University, told China Electronics News that cellphones and AR / VR hardware are not alternatives. Nowadays, cell phones are a smart device with high performance and a wide range of applications.Cell phones and Metaverse interface hardware (such as VR / AR headsets) can create seamless interoperability.As Apple continues to market the mobile phone, it is possible that the AR headsets supported by the iPhone will continue to increase.

Ma Tianhao predicts that Apple's closed ecology will also bring benefits to its AR headsets in the future. Eco-friendly closed curls have the advantages of stability and smoothness, and are also important for the development of the metaverse. For example, Siri, which Apple has developed with years of speech experience, can help AR become voice recognition and control. Apple Watch Assistive Touch can help you with AR interaction. For example, only a few feet can control the clock and recognize the connection of a cellphone / watch / AR glasses.

Apple also uses ARKit and AppClip regularly to support the AR software ecosystem.Today, according to official data from Apple, development has started to take off and Apple now has "the world's largest AR platform with hundreds of millions of AR-enabled devices and thousands of devices. AR application from the AppStore. "

“This follow-up is promising. Like the 2007 smartphone follow-up, there are many areas of the industry that need to be improved and strengthened, and improvements need to be taken by consumers as big as Apple. Weng Dongdong told "China Electronics News". Human interest in the concept of a meta-world is now unprecedented. Brands like Apple have their own IP halo which seems to be selling better than first-generation iPhones.