Why Is Mark Zuckerberg So Obsessed With The Metaverse?

Facebook’s frustration with Apple’s ability to impact its business has reached a head.
Part of Zuckerberg’s goal in spending big on the metaverse is to create “strategic advantage.”
“Obviously there are big risks and we see problems,” he said of Apple’s recent moves.
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Mark Zuckerberg is willing to lose tens of billions of dollars and piss off Wall Street in his attempt to build the metaverse not just because he thinks it’s the future of the internetbut because it is the best way to escape the clutches of Apple.

Relations between Apple and Facebook have been cold for years, and Tim Cook criticized Facebook’s reliance on user tracking to target ads since 2014.

The call between Mark Zuckerberg and analysts almost ended in confrontation

This got much worse last year, when Apple updated its operating system to encourage users to opt out be tracked by apps.

The result was a huge blow to ad-reliant social platforms, including Facebook, which said it lost $10 billion due to the change.

Zuckerberg mentioned Apple multiple times during a Wednesday call with analysts discussing Facebook’s third-quarter results, which missed expectations and sent the company’s shares down 20% to a six-year low.

The call was borderline confrontational at times, with analysts repeatedly asking Mark Zuckerberg to explain his rationale for planning to ramp up spending in the metaverse not just this year, but throughout 2023.

“On the business side, we certainly see dynamics like what Apple has done with (Apple Tracking Transparency) and continues to do in a way, like with the policy that they announced yesterday,” Zuckerberg said, referring to Apple’s new policy requires 30% cut from apps that promote social posts.

“Obviously there are big risks and we see problems.”

Facebook will have control, if the metaverse works

Zuckerberg insisted that “strengthening” Facebook’s business against the likes of Apple is not the only reason he is investing in building the metaverse.

Still, he bets the future of his company on the metaverse, turning part of it into a hardware business with its own operating system. If it works, it will give Facebook much more control over its own destiny.

“You can build new and innovative things when you control more of the stack yourself,” Zuckerberg said Wednesday.

The four platforms in the future of Facebook

Right now, the metaverse stack, as envisioned by Zuckerberg, is based on “four main platforms” that are being developed. The first is Horizon Worlds, with user avatars that make it more akin to a “social metaverse platform,” she said.

VR is the second platform, with a focus on a consumer product like its Quest headset that Zuckerberg says will “likely reach very large scale.”

The last two areas, still “mostly internal,” are augmented reality and what Zuckerberg described as “neural interfaces.”

Such an interface will allow a person, say someone wearing AR glasses, to communicate with a worn device without the need for a controller, hand movements, or even voice.

“Enabling more experiences is really the main driver and then the kind of hardening against external risks is certainly a long-term strategic advantage,” Zuckerberg added.

Mark Zuckerberg seems willing to give Apple a taste of its own medicine

Beyond trying to give his company a way to avoid getting hit by Apple’s decisions, Zuckerberg also seems willing to give Apple a taste of its own medicine.

He mentioned during the call his idea that future Quest VR headsets will be able to replace the work people now do on personal computers and laptops. Apple’s line of Mac computers would be a prime target, in theory.

“There are 200 million people who get new computers every year, mostly for work, and our goal for the Quest Pro line in the coming years is to enable more and more of these people to get work done in virtual and mixed reality. Eventually even better than on PCs », he said.

Apple, for its part, is also said to be investing many billions of dollars in virtual reality and augmented reality projects and devices.

“Metaverse” is a term you’re already making sure to avoid

Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, was asked Tuesday during The Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live conference to define what “the metaverse” is. He only said that the metaverse “is a word I will never use.”

Facebook headsets right now are a long way from the level of functionality needed to replace an Apple laptop.

Users still complain of nausea and they feel uncomfortable after wearing it for so long. Facebook employees themselves run into so many problems that they don’t use them at work.

The avatars that are the cornerstone of the company’s main metaverse product, Horizon Worlds, still don’t have realistic legs or movements.

However, Mark Zuckerberg does not realize given up on the project.

“I understand that a lot of people might not agree with this investment, but from what I can tell, this is going to be a very big deal,” Zuckerberg said. “I think people will look back decades from now and talk about the importance of the work that was done here.”

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