What to Expect from the Metaverse

Since the major announcement by Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) in October 2021, interest in the metaverse has seen some fluctuations; with various companies, organizations, and startups aiming to either enter the industry or exit from it.

While development is still ongoing and more use cases are discovered, metaverse is still restrictive for several users as 3D displays; especially VR headsets are needed to fully access and benefit from the technology. This hardware limitation is often cited as one of the main detriments to metaverse adoption as users need the devices to be "small, light, and even fashionable". Of course, to be truly distinct from conventional AR or VR applications, metaverse is ideally immersive and seamless; which might not be achievable with the difficult/ bulky VR headsets.

An alternative to the more conventional headsets today is smart glasses like the one offered by Jorjin Technologies. Designed to resemble a regular pair of glasses, their product; the J7EF Gaze focuses on AR applications and offers natural human-computer interaction for a more immersive experience. In addition, conventional I/O hardware might be easier to find, they might not be able to provide the degree of immersion that is ideally achieved in the metaverse. Coolso Gesture Control aims to achieve this by allowing users to control provide input through hand movements instead of button pressing. These innovative options might be able to provide the much needed immersion and seamless experience.

Currently, the sentiment on metaverse seems to be divided into 2 main camps: that it should focus on personal use or that it should focus on professional/ organizational applications. As of time of writing, professional use might be the way to go for metaverse; with NVIDIA's Omniverse being one of the key success stories for professional grade metaverse. Combining other underlying technologies including IoT, 5G, AI, etc. to create an accurate digital twin that users can manipulate remotely is a great benefit for companies that has an international presence.

Of course, metaverse development is still in its early stages with new features and capabilities being released for both the personal and professional applications by various developers or studios. In an article published by The Economic Times, Jung Yoon-hyuk, an associate professor at Korea University's School of Media and Communication said that the key for success in metaverse is "content". Which means the major companies are not the only ones who can be a participant in the metaverse, but 3rd party creators will also have the opportunity to leverage the technology to create new content and offer new experiences.

Whether for work, entertainment, social, or education, the immersion and freedom offered by the technology will be an added draw to the metaverse. While the technology is still in development and even exploration, it is undeniable that the potential offered by the metaverse is vast. With McKinsey expecting the metaverse to reach a market value of USD 5 trillion by 2030; there is opportunity for everyone to join in and benefit from the technology.

Metaverse in COMPUTEX 2023

Metaverse will be one of the main topics of COMPUTEX 2023 alongside High-Performance Computing (HPC), Smart Applications & AI, Vehicle Tech, Gaming & eSports, 5G, ESG, Semiconductors. COMPUTEX 2023 will be held in Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center (TaiNEX) Halls 1 and 2 from May 30 to June 2, 2023. As Asia’s leading B2B ICT tradeshow, the event will feature 1000 exhibitors from Taiwan and abroad.

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