What are the odds connectivity providers can create sophisticated 3D gaming platforms including virtual and augmented reality features that provide immersive experiences?
Now called a metaverse, such platforms provide a shared virtual 3D world, or worlds, that are interactive, immersive, and collaborative, says Nvidia. Others might note that such a potential platform also includes e-commerce and social media features.
What are the odds that the same technology also can be the foundation for hologram-based and three-dimensional digital twin experiences for communications or learning?
Telcos want to find out.
SK Telecom has launched “ifland”, a new metaverse platform. SKT’s ifland is a communication-focused platform that supports audio communication and file sharing (pdf and mp4) with up to 130 participants.
China Mobile and Verizon also have initiatives in the metaverse area.
DoubleMe’s Holoverse, a proof of concept project, is supported by Telefónica, Deutsche Telekom, TIM, and MobiledgeX.
As with any effort to create a “platform,” success will happen not only because the technology works, but because many business partners find the platform useful.
As always, there are issues about which participants in which parts of the ecosystem end up driving most of the value. Will such telco or mobile metaverse platforms become commercial successes?
Or will others, such as Epic Games and other gaming content suppliers, emerge as the driving forces? It is possible Nvidia or other chip suppliers emerge as leaders, though less likely perhaps than Facebook and other hyperscale app giants emerging as the eventual platform winners.
To be sure, these telcos will be hailed as major innovators if they succeed, criticized as once again wasting effort in areas where they have no natural advantages, if they fail.
If the pattern with edge computing holds, success will come when telcos partner with platform suppliers, accepting some incremental role but without trying to create their own brands. Already there are too many other logical suppliers in the value chain staking a claim to becoming the platform of choice.
You might liken the metaverse to an even more immersive experience than telepresence, itself defined as the experience of “being there.” It is a work in progress.
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