No Metaverse? No Problem, Says the Sandbox COO on Apple's VR Headset Launch

“This is groundbreaking,” said Sebastien Borget, Chief Operations Officer for The Sandbox, regarding the new Apple VisionPro Augmented Reality Headset.

At this year’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC2023), the tech giant unveiled its most recent device: the Apple VisionPro. Set to launch in 2024, it is a mixed reality (MR) headset, combining virtual reality (VR) with augmented reality (AR).

Despite the high price point–$3,499–it’s earned high praise from the crypto metaverse exec.

Borget told Decrypt at this year’s NFC Lisbon event that Apple is “redefining” the MR category, and that the device holds the “most promise in terms of technological capabilities.”

Still, Apple shied away from ever using the term metaverse in their reveal. That might be due to the Meta QuestPro, the headset launched last year by rival tech giant, Meta–formerly known as Facebook.

But that’s fine, said Borget.

“It’s not competing with the metaverse, but rather one new device that we can use to discover the concept,” he said, adding that they are not building the metaverse “per se” but rather creating the technology that will facilitate it and make it more broadly available.

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The metaverse was dying. Some said it was already dead. Then along came Apple.  On Monday, the tech colossus unveiled its Vision Pro headset, a cutting-edge, immersive mixed reality device the company claims will single-handedly usher in a new age of “spatial computing.”  In its exhaustive, meticulously staged, 46 minute roll-out of the device, Apple did not once use the term “metaverse.” It made no reference to the blockchain, nor did it delve into the Vision Pro’s compatibility with tokenized...

Although the new device delivers a substantially different environment and imagery than what the crypto space has been building in the metaverse, Borget told Decrypt he is “very excited” with what Apple has launched.

“We have never seen this type of device in mixed reality before,” said the COO, adding that it will push more users towards immersion. He sees the Apple VisionPro driving the next wave of experimentation and even redefining a new format of entertainment.

Despite many bemoaning the whopping price tag, Borget remains unfazed.

Asking around at the conference, he said roughly one out of every three people he spoke to were interested in buying and trying.

“These are early adopters,” he told Decrypt.