What exactly is the metaverse?

      Hello everyone.

　　It's true that I haven't updated for quite a long time this time. People are like this. Once they stop, they need to make extra efforts to get back on track. During this period, many friends also urged me to update in the background or in person. Thank you for your attention.

　　I just participated in a live discussion on "Metaverse" hosted by iFanr last Friday, and mentioned some of my views on Metaverse in the live broadcast. Since I have already prepared the content, I might as well organize the views in the live broadcast into a tweet, which can be regarded as the beginning of the restart of the official account.

　　Question 1: What is the metaverse?

　　I think the Metaverse is a collection of future trends. From the application of VR/AR at the bottom of the technology, the blessing of blockchain technology on Metaverse assets, to the grand narrative of the combination of virtual and real, the Metaverse is like a frame, and almost all important directions representing future Internet trends can be put into it. Simply put, the concept of the Metaverse is a bit like "one Metaverse, each with its own interpretation": Zuckerberg believes that the Metaverse is VR; Apple and Microsoft believe that the Metaverse is AR; Roblox may think that the Metaverse is a game. Different fields and industries have their own different interpretations of the Metaverse.

　　If you ask me whether I agree with this trend, I do. I think the Metaverse represents the general direction of the next stage of Internet development. I use the word "generally" because the concept of the Metaverse itself is very vague, and the real Metaverse is still very far away from us. If the prediction of the distant future is too precise, it is often easy to have a large deviation. The industry has given this general direction a recognized name: Web3.

　　I agree with the trend, but I think we should look at the current situation in two ways. I tend to divide the application of the metaverse into two dimensions: consumer metaverse and industrial metaverse.

　　The consumer metaverse refers to the metaverse for C-end consumers. I think the current situation in this field is still far from the ideal metaverse. From the perspective of the entrance: VR has just completed the transition from 0 to 1 this year. The Oculus Quest2 terminal has sold 10 million units, but it still lacks a real killer application. Although I bought an Oculus Quest2 myself, I only upgrade the latest version of the software every once in a while to see what new features have been added. There is no high-intensity and high-viscosity application scenario; AR is even further away from consumers. Although Apple has released AR Kit for many years and announced various AR games at the iPhone launch conference a few years ago, no game has been able to break the circle and accumulate enough user groups. The official rumor that Apple's AR glasses will be released next year may change this situation, but we can only look forward to this possibility at present.

Microsoft Hololens2

　　The brand that has gone the furthest in the AR field is Microsoft. Hololes2 can be said to be the best AR glasses on the planet, but if you have experienced it yourself, you will know that the display effect of Hololens, especially the FOV (field of view), is still very limited. With the current application scenarios and usage experience, there is still a long way to go for C-end consumers.

　　After talking about the consumer metaverse, it is time to talk about the industrial metaverse. Although AR has not yet succeeded in the consumer market, in the industrial field and in the B2B field, VR/AR already has relatively complete application scenarios and business models. In terms of stage, it is ahead of the consumer metaverse.

　　Question 2: What is the Industrial Metaverse?

　　When it comes to the industrial metaverse, one concept that must be mentioned is "digital twin". I don't know if you have heard of this term. Digital twin is actually the mapping of real products or equipment in virtual space. The earliest digital twin technology was applied in the aviation field. We know that airplanes fly in the sky all day long, and the operating status and maintenance information of various components on the aircraft cannot be obtained efficiently. By making full use of physical models, iOT sensor data, operation history and other information, we build a virtual mapping model of a real aircraft, which we call a digital twin. With this virtual digital twin model, we can efficiently monitor the operating status of the aircraft and ensure flight quality.

　　This combination of virtual and real, and the mapping of virtual and real, is actually highly consistent with the concept of the metaverse we are talking about today. Therefore, we call this digital twin and its derivative technologies applied in the industrial field the Industrial Metaverse: Industrial Metaverse.

　　Today, digital twins have been widely used in various fields of industrial manufacturing to assist in simulation applications such as product design, product manufacturing, experimental analysis, and engineering construction, significantly reducing the cost of trial and error.

　　Therefore, when it comes to specific industries, the Metaverse is not far away. In recent years, the digital transformation of the industrial manufacturing field has been fully implemented, and the industrial manufacturing system based on the "digital twin" technology has begun to take shape. To some extent, many leading companies have actively tried and practiced on the road of "Industrial Metaverse" and found many valuable landing scenarios. The real implementation of these scenarios is inseparable from AR augmented reality technology.