The Availability of These Positions Indicates That Apple is Creating Its Own Metaverse for Its Much-rumored Headset.
Apple is currently recruiting engineers who can create a mixed-reality environment in three dimensions for their next headgear.
Apple is in competition with Meta and other tech firms to produce virtual reality and augmented reality headgear.
Bloomberg reports that Apple is actively seeking engineers to create a 3D environment for their as-yet-unannounced mixed-reality headset.
Apple’s possible plans to title their VR/AR headset “Reality One” or “Reality Pro” are hinted at in trademark applications from August. Speculation about Apple’s VR/AR headset began in early 2021.
Apple’s Technology Development Group has been posting jobs for a variety of positions relating to the creation of content for its headset. These include software developers to create visual effects for AR/VR settings, as well as those to create a video streaming service dedicated to 3D media.
Someone with “experience in 3D graphics to drive constructing a simulation and synthetic data pipeline for machine learning training” is needed, according to the job description for a senior software engineer in graphics and simulation.
Insider reached out to Apple for comment on the postings before they were published, but the company did not immediately react.
The Information said that the price of the headset might reach $3,000 and that it would feature 12 cameras to provide the user with a live feed of their surroundings.
While Apple’s vision of the future may sound a lot like what Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta hopes to create in the next years, don’t look for them to use the term “metaverse” to describe it.
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has already admitted to the Dutch media source Bright that he does not like the concept “metaverse.”
When it comes to explaining concepts to others, I believe that clarity is of the utmost importance. Also, “I’m actually not convinced the typical person can tell you what the metaverse is,” Cook said to Bright in an interview.
On the other hand, Cook appears to be intrigued by AR, telling the source that he views it as “a fundamental technology that will influence everything.” In addition, he emphasized that VR is not a replacement for real life.
For Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing Greg Joswiak, the term “metaverse” is a “phrase I’ll never use,” as he stated at a conference held by The Wall Street Journal in October. Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, responded to Joswiak’s comment with a “Yeah, I’m good with that.”
According to Bloomberg, Apple will introduce its first mixed-reality headset in 2023.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, told employees in July that the business is in a “deep, philosophical battle” with Apple to create the future of virtual reality.
As investor worry about his metaverse proposal grew, this week Meta announced the largest job loss in its history, affecting about 11,000 people. Due to the slowing growth of the company and investor concerns over Zuckerberg’s expenditure on the “metaverse,” staff were preparing for layoffs.
Apple and its competitor Snapchat have both shown a preference for augmented reality over virtual reality. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has even referred to augmented reality as “more immersive.“
