Apple: The Metaverse “is very interesting to us and we’re investing accordingly”

During its Q1 2022 earnings call last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked a question on Apple’s stance on the metaverse, how the company is thinking about the metaverse opportunity and Apple’s role in the metaverse market.

The answer CEO Tim Cook gave was quite positive, pointing to Apple’s interest in the space and revealed the fact that the company is investing in the metaverse space. Tim Cooke said the metaverse has a lot of potential and that his company is investing accordingly. “It’s very interesting to us,” he noted.

The metaverse is picking up steam and attracts increasing focus from large businesses. Last fall Facebook reorganized its corporate structure, rebranding the enterprise to Meta, the name of the mother company, with a promise to invest $10 billion in the technology.

Big investments in the metaverse space

Just recently Microsoft acquired gaming powerhouse Activision Blizzard for almost $69 billion. Though the official statement does not include the word “metaverse” it’s hard not to see the connection and the move itself as a reaction to Facebook’s (Meta’s) initiative.

Given this attention and the actions taken by Meta and Microsoft, it’s not a wild guess that other big companies will follow suit. Though Apple CEO Tim Cook did not go into specifics, he expressed a clear interest in the metaverse. 

“We’re a company in the business of innovation, so we’re always exploring new and emerging technologies. And I’ve spoken at length about how this area is very interesting to us. We see a lot of potential in this space and are investing accordingly.” 

When elaborating on the subject, Mr. Cook went down the VR route: “Right now, we have over 14,000 ARKit apps in the App Store, which provide incredible AR [augmented reality] experiences for millions of people today.”

$8 trillion market opportunity

The VR play goes along the same lines as did Mark Zuckerberg in his Meta announcement last year; hardly a surprise as VR gear developers Oculus are part of the Meta family. Apple, being mainly a hardware company, is perhaps expected to go along this path as their approach to the metaverse technology and market.

The market opportunities and potential for the metaverse have recently been recognized by major banks and analysts. Global investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have estimated the metaverse to be an $8 trillion market opportunity.

In December, Bank of America’s strategist, Haim Israel, said that the metaverse is a massive opportunity where cryptocurrencies will be widely used as currencies. “I definitely believe this is a massive, massive opportunity.”