Learning of the Metaverse — our key takeaways from MWC23
Last week the AR Analytics team has spent 4 days in Barcelona visiting the Mobile World Congress. It is clearly the world’s largest mobile technology trade fair, with all big tech and contenders represented. (All, but Apple, which prominently stays away.) the fair predicts where the market is going, and what the biggest mobile and tech companies expect; at the same time you can see what investors are looking for and what startups are doing, from the smallest to the largest.
The most important buzzwords were obvious: everything was AI, next-gen, 6G, and, of course, metaverse. However, it seemed that as many stands and exhibitors, as many metaverse interpretations. And very few things they had in common.
For one, none of the metaverse interpretations was educational or detailed the technology. It didn’t matter whether it was an interactive video on a flat screen (which is an oxymoron in itself); there wasn’t a single booth that could explain what the Metaverse is, why it works and how it (should be) represented. What is the benefit and why is this good for the user, or for the brand that communicates in this way.
And still, communication of the metaverse was constant, and all solutions were actually labelled as “metaverse”. But these weren’t.
And although we have indeed seen some good examples of the use of VR/AR and even XR, none of the companies really took a. step further and had a concept of where this all leads us all. No in-depth mention of the transforming Internet.
But what is the transforming internet anyway?
The first generation of the internet, Web1, was primarily focused on creating static web pages, while the second generation, Web2, was focused on creating dynamic web pages and enabling user-generated content. Web3, on the other hand, is focused on creating a decentralized internet, where users have more control over their data, identity, and digital assets. It is built on decentralized protocols and smart contracts that allow for peer-to-peer interactions without the need for intermediaries or centralized platforms.
And the absence of explanations on #MWC23 is painful. These could have addressed issues like what the essence is of web1 and web2 are, where we are now in the development, or what companies expect of web3 and the next phase of the internet. It would have been important to realize what hardware will replace the mobile phone in the long term (or would it have been too much for a congress on mobile technology?!) Why do users become more involved when they interact with spatial elements in a spatial environment? What does all this mean for companies, when measuring ROI?
A refreshing exception was the conversation where Joseph M. Bradley, CEO of investor firm Tonomus talked with Qualcomm’s senior director of product management Said Bakadir, and Accenture’s Comms director, Brian Smyth. The three had such an in-depth knowledge of what the metaverse concept means altogether and where it leads, that it gave us goosebumps.
What they said in short, is practically what we always push forward in our communications: with the changing world around us, the way we use our devices is also changing. We need to change the context and shift the paradigm, for it will (as you see in the image above), disrupt computing.
What we say is a step further.
We call it the age of digital reality.
Take care,
Udeme
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