Apple Unveils Plans To Enter Metaverse, Stocks Skyrocket

Tim Cook with an Apple employee. (photo: twitter @tim_cook)

JAKARTA - Apple Inc began teasing its metaverse ambitions on Thursday, January 27, when Apple CEO, Tim Cook, spoke about expanding the company's augmented reality apps to drive a strong investor response.

The company has 14.000 AR apps in its App Store, and Cook suggests this number will increase with further investment.

“We see a lot of potential in this space and are investing accordingly,” Cook said, responding to a question about his plans for the metaverse, a broad term that generally refers to a shared cyber environment that people can access via the internet.

Apple analysts Ming-Chi Kuo and Bloomberg have reported that Apple plans to introduce AR headsets this year or next year, followed by glasses models. Apple has not publicly acknowledged this plan.

Cook's comments on Thursday, and forecasts for quarterly profit and sales, have helped push Apple shares up nearly 5% in after-hours trading.

As reported by Reuters, Apple's services revenue also jumped 24% to 19.5 billion US dollars in the holiday quarter that just ended. This revenue exceeded analyst estimates of 18.6 billion US dollars.

They have also added 785 million subscribers to several paid services such as streaming music and playing games, which is an increase from 620 million last year and 745 million in the last quarter.

Cook separately last Thursday said that Apple's research and development efforts were focused on the intersection of hardware, software, and services.

"That's where the magic really happens," Cook said. "There's a fair amount of investment going into things that aren't in the market right now."

AR devices can open up many opportunities to grow subscriptions. Existing offerings for fitness workouts and video content can be made even more engaging through immersive AR experiences.

As services and customers grew, Apple's gross profit margin jumped above 40%, drawing praise from analysts.

Metaverse-related services, such as AR apps, could reverse Apple's revenue mix, said analyst Neil Shah of Counterpoint Research.

"There are significant gains for Apple's services business that could potentially cross the iPhone in the next five years," said Shah.