Apple is the latest in the long list of companies that have recently hopped on the metaverse train. During the company’s Q1 2022 earning call on Thursday, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that the tech giant is pursuing investments in the metaverse sector.
Key takeaways:
- Responding to a question about Apple’s involvement in the rapidly growing metaverse sector, Cook said that the company is “always exploring new and emerging technologies,” and noted that Apple is observing the space with great interest. “We see a lot of potential in this space and are investing accordingly,” he added.
- Cook also said that there are currently over 14,000 applications built with ARKit on the App Store, providing “incredible AR experiences for millions of people today.” ARKit is a software framework that allows developers to create augmented reality (AR) applications.
- Apple seems to be focusing on AR applications of the metaverse rather than embracing a fully immersive virtual reality approach, like Meta with Occulus headsets, for instance. This approach certainly makes sense since Apple’s mobile devices are widely available and pack enough computing power to facilitate AR.
- The price of Apple stock hit $167.9 in after-hours trading, after jumping more than 8% on the news of metaverse investment and stellar quarterly business results. Apple beat its earnings per share (EPS) expectations by more than 11%, thanks to an improving supply chain and record product sales.
- Apple is not the only company investing in the AR space. At the tail end of 2021, Disney secured a patent that would allow it to combine virtual reality elements with physical reality, which could mean that a theme park AR metaverse might be in the pipeline.
- Last week, Microsoft made headlines when it announced a $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and signaled that the Redmond giant is getting serious about the metaverse. At the time, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that the move “will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms.”
- On Thursday, Ethereum-based multiplayer game The Sandbox announced a partnership with Brinc to invest $50 million in up to 100 startups working on gaming and non-gaming applications of the metaverse.
- Check our dedicated metaverse section, to follow market moves of digital assets in the sector in real-time.
