Apple VP Greg Joz says 'metaverse' is a word he will never use

Apple has reportedly been working on its own virtual universe as the company also has plans to introduce a new mixed reality headset. And, following a statement from Mark Zuckerberg saying that the metaverse should be “open” as a criticism of Apple, the company’s VP of Worldwide Marketing Greg Joswiak said during an interview with WSJ that he will never use the word “metaverse.”

Joswiak and Apple’s VP of Software Craig Federighi were interviewed by journalist Joanna Stern on Tuesday at the WSJ Tech Live event. At some point, Stern asked the executives about the company’s future headset, which unsurprisingly, they didn’t say a word about.

Then the reporter asked the two executives to complete the phrase “the metaverse is …” Joswiak quickly responded with “… a word I’ll never use.” Apple always avoids talking about future products, and it was no different this time. However, Joswiak’s answer to Stern about the metaverse sounded as if he was making fun of Facebook since the company changed its name to promote what it calls the metaverse.

While Apple has yet to unveil any of its virtual reality products, Meta has been aggressively investing in this category. Last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook poked at Meta by saying that the “average person” doesn’t know what the metaverse is. He also mentioned that he doesn’t believe people should be encouraged to “live their whole lives” in a virtual world.

A few days later, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg argued that the metaverse should be an open platform, while Apple is likely to go the opposite way – which in his opinion could hurt both competitors and consumers. Meta has been working with partners such as Microsoft, Autodesk, and Accenture to build its metaverse platform.

Apple, on the other hand, is rumored to introduce next year an advanced and expensive headset that will integrate with the iPhone and other products from the company.

iPhone with USB-C and iMessage for Android

In the same interview, Stern asked Apple executives whether the company would comply with the European Union’s decision that forces all companies to adopt USB-C as the standard for electronic devices. Joswiak confirmed that Apple will agree to the decision, but he didn’t give any other details.

At another point in the interview, Federighi suggested that Apple will never create an iMessage app for Android since the company wouldn’t be able to do so without compromising the platform’s “great experiences.”

You can watch the full interview below: