The metaverse that many companies have entered is, in their view, the future of the Internet and the virtual world that people will step into in the future. The emergence and development of every new field always goes through a 'figuring out' phase. After people's curiosity about the metaverse has gone through a roller coaster of ups and downs, a joint organization in the industry has finally emerged.
▲Image from: Twitter
Just recently, a number of leading companies joined forces to form the Metaverse Standards Forum. The intention is to promote the development of interoperability standards for an open and inclusive metaverse and to accelerate its development and deployment through pragmatic, action-based projects.
The Forum, which brings together leading standards organizations and companies, is designed for industry-wide collaboration on the interoperability standards needed to build an open metaverse. Founding members of the Metaverse Standards Forum already include Meta, Microsoft, Huawei, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Epic Games, Unity and Adobe, Ikea and more than 35 other companies.
▲Image from: Metaverse Standards Forum
In addition to the founding members, this 'forum' is also free and open to any for-profit or non-profit organization (including companies, standards organizations, industry associations or universities) and amounts to a venue for collaboration between standards organizations and companies.
It also means that this 'forum' is not an organization that creates new standards, but it coordinates requirements and resources to facilitate the creation and development of standards within standards organizations working in related areas. In short, what it wants to do is to promote interoperable standards for the open meta-community by leveraging the cooperation of leading standards organizations and companies.
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According to the 'Forum' description, this forum will focus on certain project implementations, such as hackathons, plugin festivals, and open source tools to accelerate testing and adoption of standards, while developing consistent terminology and deployment guidelines. The range of projects the forum plans to focus on includes, but is not limited to, interactive 3D assets, financial transactions, and human-machine interface programs such as AR and VR.
▲Image from: Metaverse Standards Forum
It's worth noting that this industry 'forum', which brings together several tech giants, does not feature Apple, which has naturally led to a lot of speculation.
Apple, the tech giant that's already back at number one in terms of market cap, is also currently working on an AR/VR headset, which clearly isn't entirely unintentional to the meta-universe. After all, Cook mentioned his vision for AR again in an interview only a short while ago: 'I'm very excited about the opportunities we see in this space.'
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But perhaps the reason Apple hasn't joined the Forum is precisely because of the AR/VR headset the company is developing. meta, a founding member of the Forum, is also working on its next-generation headset, the Quest 2 Pro, which many believe couldn't be more obvious competition to Apple's headset in this space.
In addition, Epic Games, a founding member of the forum, also has legal entanglements with Apple, and these 'beefs' and rivalries may have prevented Apple from stepping into the 'forum'.
▲Image from: Financial Times
But they always say that there are no permanent rivals in the mall. Adding to the fact that the meta-universe seems to have become a 'battleground' for tech companies these days, then perhaps Apple's choice to join the 'Forum' is because, in the tech giant's opinion, the current organization doesn't seem necessary to join just yet, or perhaps, it wants to create its own meta-universe ecology.
▲Image from: Metaverse Standards Forum
The future of the metaverse is yet to come, everything is still uncertain, and the direction of the metaverse with the Forum as a joint organization is still full of unknowns and "surprises"