Many tech executives have recently shared their views on the metaverse, including Tony Fadell, the “father of the iPod,” who expressed his views on the “Metaverse” in an interview with foreign media.
Fadell believes there are many applications for mixed reality (MR), including augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) devices that focus on specific features. Although he did not mention Google, its latest demonstration of language translation glasses is a good example. In general, he sees the meta-universe as finding solutions to problems.
Image source: extremetech
“I think the metaverse is wrong; in a virtual world, I can’t see your eyes, I can’t see your face, I can’t build trust and real personal connections; also, our brains, resources and time are very scarce and valuable, which is more relevant to solve the climate crisis.”
Fadell concludes that all the time and energy spent on the metaverse is wasted. “All those brilliant minds and all that money should be spent on solving the problems we ‘don’t have’ rather than solving the problems we ‘have’ and that’s just plain wrong.”
In an interview with CNET, Fadell elaborated on his meta-universe idea. He pointed out that there is no reason to create a new social platform when existing ones are so imperfect. fadell said: “I don’t want to hear about a new social gathering being created and not hear about a new content audit emerging as an extension of that.”
Fadell’s view echoes that of other tech giant leaders. Reggie Fils-Aimé, former president of Nintendo, has also gone on record saying he doesn’t think Meta’s metaverse world will work. He bases this judgment on his belief that Meta is not innovative enough to solve the problem. He believes that Meta’s success so far has depended on the acquisition of Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus.
Ken Kutaragi, the father of Playstation, also disagrees, arguing that “it’s very important in the real world, but Meta Universe is about ‘reality’ made in the virtual world, and I don’t see the point of doing that.”
Apple is reportedly not a fan of the metaverse either. There are rumors that the upcoming wearable device is “not virtual world friendly.
