Meta's Shift in Focus
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's response to the question about reducing losses in Reality Labs suggests that the company is exploring alternative investments, such as AI glasses, which have shown growth potential. The mention of selling tens of millions of units implies a significant shift in focus towards wearable technology and AI-powered devices.
The internal stakes are high, with Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth emphasizing the importance of 2025 for the company's metaverse efforts. The warning that without real traction, the metaverse project could be considered a "legendary misadventure" highlights the pressure on the company to deliver results.
The restructuring of Reality Labs, with top sales and marketing leads being moved under broader company leadership, suggests a tighter alignment with Meta's AI push. The company's momentum has clearly shifted towards its Llama AI models, Meta AI, and Ray-Ban smart glasses, indicating that the metaverse is no longer the central focus.
While the metaverse may not be dead yet, it appears to have taken a backseat to other priorities. Meta's shift in focus towards AI and wearable technology may be a strategic move to capitalize on emerging trends and technologies.
Note: The metaverse landscape is evolving rapidly, and Meta's changing priorities reflect the company's efforts to adapt to the changing market and technological landscape. As the situation develops, it will be interesting to see how Meta's metaverse efforts unfold and whether the company can still achieve its goals in this area.
How do you see blockchain integrating into the Metaverse?
How would you describe the Metaverse?
The metaverse refers to the convergence of physical and virtual space accessed through computers and enabled by immersive technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality. Described by proponents as the next iteration of the internet, this 3D virtual world is envisioned as a persistent, collective, shared space where digital facsimiles of ourselves, or avatars, move freely from one experience to another, taking our identities and monetary assets with us.
Visions of a parallel digital universe where humans can experience life in ways both akin to and not possible in the real world aren't new -- they predate the internet. But the concept of a blended physical and digital reality became more tangible in recent decades as technological advances -- from the near-universal adoption of mobile phones and rollout of high-speed internet to popular games such as Pokémon Go -- made the metaverse seem less far-fetched.
Hefty industry investment in metaverse-enabling technologies, the growth of online video games, breakthroughs in AI and the acceleration of remote work and socializing driven by the COVID-19 pandemic spurred more tech innovation and increased user adoption of online life.
In November 2021, Facebook renamed itself Meta and announced a $10 billion investment in developing virtual experiences, prompting enthusiasts to anoint the metaverse as the world's new computing interface. Bill Gates jumped on the bandwagon, predicting that meetings would move from screens to the metaverse in two or three years. The hype was premature, though.