New Delhi, Dec 25 (IANS) Metaverse – the most used tech buzzword of the year – has failed to catch the attention of the masses so far. Will it become useful in our daily lives in 2023 as companies spend billions on virtual reality/augmented reality (VR-AR) related technologies?
Meta (formerly Facebook), which laid off more than 11,000 employees in 2022, is reportedly struggling to gain and retain users on its social virtual reality (VR) platform called Horizon Worlds – its biggest bet to realize its dream of $10 billion metaverse.
In fact, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that while many tech companies are optimistic about the Metaverse, it’s not clear that the average person can understand what the Metaverse really is.
However, the industry is still optimistic about the metaverse. According to reports, the global metaverse market is expected to reach $996 billion in 2030, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 39.8%.
The metaverse market size reached a value of $22.79 billion in 2021, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
“As India prepares to become one of the fastest growing economies in the world in 2023, the coming months will be crucial in setting the stage for our long-term success,” said Prativa Mohapatra, vice -President and CEO of Adobe India, at IANS.
The year 2022 has sparked megatrends like the cryptocurrency boom and bust, growing examples of the power of generative AI, and the emergence of incredible use cases on what could be the journey to term of the metaverse to have a real impact in the world.
“With such rapid trends driving the dynamics of industry and customer experiences in 2023, companies will need to continuously adapt to change, evolve strategies and focus on looking around the corner to drive innovations that can create impact,” added Mohapatra.
Various players in the technology sector, including those who manufacture semiconductors, components and application software, have started to take advantage of the metaverse.
According to Deepak Agarwal, project manager at GlobalData, the metaverse is still largely conceptual but could transform the way people work, buy, communicate and consume content.
“Although it is in the early stages of development, it has the potential to be the next digital media mega-theme,” Agarwal said.
In 2023 and beyond, the building blocks of the consumer metaverse as well as its potentially deadly use cases will continue to be refined, experts said.
“Enterprise Metaverse will continue to gain momentum through 2023. Enterprises will seek to further increase efficiencies and combat potentially unsustainable black swan events,” said Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR, at IANS.
Thanks to digital twins, for example, Indian manufacturing companies have been able to remotely monitor, map and manage their supply chain and production plants, he added.
Meta in November announced that it was supporting industry body FICCI with $1 million for the XR Open Source Fellowship (XROS) program which will help 100 Indian developers working on XR (extended reality) technologies for the future of the metaverse. .
Administered by FICCI, the XROS program will provide developers with scholarships that include a stipend and mentorship.
The National e-Governance Division, an initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), will be the technical partner of the program.
“India’s techade vision can only be realized when young developers and start-ups, including those in Tier 2 and 3 cities, contribute to enabling future technologies such as XR in the metaverse,” said Ajay Kumar Sood, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government.
In 2021, Meta has partnered with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to bring immersive technologies to over 10 million students and 1 million educators over the next three years.
(Nishant Arora can be reached at )
–IANS
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