Kevin Jones
Cofounder & CEO
VizVibe LLC
We have been hearing a lot about the Metaverse lately and how great the tech giants like Meta (formally Facebook) envision a seamless world of content and connection. I wrote a blog post a few weeks back about how my 10-year-old son and his friends are already very well versed in the Metaverse (you can read it here). Sounds great! Or for many, trying to wrap their head around it, it’s not so great. Unfortunately, however you look at it, it is most likely not going to be a smooth transition. Though there will be bumps and turns along the road the Metaverse will continue to grow. We are already seeing pushback on how some don’t see wearing bulky goggles all day. Honestly, I’m not a fan of large wearables on my head all day either. However, I really do enjoy my Oculus. Personally, I’m very excited for when my daily glasses will have an embedded display in them. Then there’s the deciding on what platform that you will want to enter into the Metaverse. That will be very similar to what device are you using, Android or Apple?
So here are my thoughts on the Metaverse. It’s going to be a mess at first. It will be larger companies such as Apple, Google, and Meta that will create the mainstream platforms along with a few other smaller but innovative companies that are blazing ahead in this space. Each of the tech giants will have its own entry points into the Metaverse just like the smartphone you use every day. As I said earlier the market is made up of mostly Android or Apple users. That which most likely means that you are already part of the Metaverse, really. The device that you carry around with you just about everywhere gives you endless opportunities to shop, connect with friends and family, play, explore, see the weather, get directions, search anything and everything at any time, and consume endless amounts of content. You are already connected to the groundwork of what will be the Metaverse. We’ve been touched by it for years and it’s second nature to most of us. Ok, what’s the big deal then with everyone and why are they still talking about the Metaverse? It’s a signal that there is going to be a shift in how we are going to experience social media, digital content and communicate with each other. As technology continues to evolve and the price of hardware (devices) continues to become more affordable thus giving more people the ability to connect to the digital world. It’s in our cars, homes, work, schools just about anywhere and everywhere. The only thing we are missing is one universal way of connecting ourselves.
What is it going to be like? That is where companies like VizVibe come in. The giants will most likely create the foundations and may even create some of the content but it will be content companies, teachers, students, families, small business owners in our community that will help build it. It will create new opportunities and enhance our communication with each other and that’s exciting. Much like VizVibe develops interactive content, apps and AR experiences for our clients will have the ability to eventually access our content through various entry points such as #Meta, #Google, #Apple. Just like we use our smartphones to experience our interaction with content currently. The main difference will be that every device or wearable device you own will be connected giving you a seamless stream of information, content, and connection.
Ultimately, it will be up to us as the community of users and developers to come to innovate new ways to connect to both the virtual and real worlds. By creating content for the Metaverse that transcends the best of both realities. We will need to create the balance between being connected and going off the grid much like we try to do now with all our gadgets and technology. See how VizVibe encourages children to use technology to limit the use of technology with our AR KidsKit Platform here.
Yep, it’s defiantly going to be messy. But we figure it out.
In the meantime enjoy the Metaverse!