Meta's chief product officer said the metaverse will one day become as important as the smartphone.Meta has focused heavily on its Reality Labs division in recent years, making heavy losses.Meta's chief product officer Chris Cox said he believes the metaverse will one day become as essential as smartphones during a panel about the technology at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday.
Cox said Meta believes that"one day that computing platform will be as important as the smartphone has become in our lifetimes." Cox explained that the tech giant had spent the last eight years trying to build a virtual reality product line that is affordable, accessible, and impressive enough for users to incorporate into social experiences, fitness, gaming, medicine, drug development, and to design sneakers and cars.
Cox pointed out that one of the problems with the metaverse at present is its current lack of interoperability with other platforms. "I think the Internet is a very good way of thinking about the metaverse, because some parts of the Internet are very coherent with each other," Cox said at the panel, noting out how easy it is to switch from app to app like Instagram to Google Maps without confusion. The panel was hosted by Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson and included author and creator of the term metaverse Neal Stephenson; CEO of HP Enrique Lores, and Paula Ingabire, Minister of ICT and Innovation in Rwanda.