Remember the Metaverse? By this point it’s something most of us have forgotten about. But in 2022, it was all the rage.
For those new to the Metaverse, it’s a virtual-reality space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users. Think of it like a digital world.
Fortune 500 companies were investing millions into digital real estate, store fronts, shopping malls, amusement parks, and concert venues — all existing solely in this digital world.
Walmart, Adidas, Burberry, Gucci, Tommy Hilfiger, Samsung, and Louis Vuitton are all household names that bet big on the Metaverse and bought digital real estate to build digital storefronts.
Snoop Dogg even bought real estate and a mansion in the Metaverse, and some unlucky soul with a little too much time and money on their hands purchased the parcel of land next to him for $450,000 — just to be Snoop Dogg’s neighbor in the Metaverse.
It Was Supposed to Be The Next Big Thing
The Metaverse was supposed to be “the next big thing”, a new digital frontier. But that hype has all but dried up. Because the problem is the Metaverse was a destination. Companies were trying to bring the real world into the Metaverse, rather than the Metaverse into the real world.
It’s not a terribly easy thing to access, it’s not something you pass by on your drive home from work. It’s not convenient, it’s a destination that you have to go far out of your way to get to.
If you want to visit any of the Metaverses you have to either use a computer, or put on your virtual reality headset, and figure out how to play a video game where you just walk around in a poorly pixelated world that can’t deliver any actual physically tangible value to the user.
This is a problem that Apple quickly identified. And they’ve recently flipped the script with their Apple Vision Pro headsets. They’re bringing the Metaverse to the real world, or to put it correctly, they’re bringing augmented reality (AR) to the real world.
Augmented reality (AR) differs from virtual reality (VR) in some key ways.
In AR, virtual aspects are combined with the real world. Whereas in VR, you enter an entirely virtual world and do not see or interact with the real world.
So, to reiterate, AR combines the real world with the digital world.
Take a look at Apple’s Vision Pro doing this:
As you can see, the tech is pretty amazing. And at a price point of $3,500 per pair of these goggles, it has to be.
Apple’s Big Bet
Apple invested big with its Vision Pro concept, with experts estimating the company spent about $20 billion in research & development to get the product and technology off the ground.
That’s a big bet for a big risk. And the company is reporting its second quarter 2024 earnings on May 2nd.
But here’s the thing — Apple investors are bullish and they’re looking for any reason to buy.
Think of it like how we discussed Elon Musk and Tesla the other day. Both Apple and Tesla have been beaten down lately.
Then Tesla reported bad earnings, but Elon put a positive spin on the company’s future and the stock soared 14%.
Apple and Tesla are both companies with super fans that just want to see the stock go up.
So, they’re looking for any positive reason to help send shares to the moon. Apple’s sales and earnings updates on its Vision Pro headset may just be that catalyst.
Investors have their finger on the trigger ready to send Apple higher if the right news hits.
So, let’s keep a close eye on their earnings release scheduled for after the market closes on May 2nd.
— Nate Tucci
P.S. I hope you were able to hop on and catch my Automated Options webinar this week! But for those of you that missed this opportunity, you can catch a recap of it right here.
