Apple's Upcoming Mixed Reality Headset, AI Fashion Models, and Puma's New Phygitals

Bi-weekly news commentary

Hi friend,

How are you? I hope your week is going well.

In this exclusive bi-weekly news commentary for paid subscribers, there’s so much going on but a few news items stood out for me as the visual storytelling landscape continues to evolve.

Apple and the Metaverse: Everything We Know So Far - Decrypt

The gist: Tech giants have all placed their bets on the future of the metaverse. What about Apple? How does the upcoming release of Apple’s mixed reality headset tie with their larger Web3 Metaverse?

Why it matters: Apple has so far played the ultimate market disruptor, namely with the launch of the iPhone back in 2007. If this new headset comes with a supporting Web3 metaverse ecosystem, it will create another massive paradigm shift for how brands can engage audiences. For perspective, realize that the global VR market size projected to increase from less than 12 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 to more than 22 billion U.S. dollars by 2025 (Statista). So these are just early days.

It will also be interesting to see what metaverse strategy this $3 trillion juggernaut will choose; sticking to their existing walled garden approach (e.g., App Store) or adopting the metaverse purest vision of decentralized, and interoperability.

Can AI Fashion Models Help Shoppers Cut Clothes Waste? - BBC News

The gist: Clothes returns create 100 million tons of waste every year. New AI models customized to your exact look try to change that for the fashion industry. Beyond more accurate fitting, you get a more relatable “model-who-looks-like-me” experience.

Why it matters: This trend of AI models follows the success of the earlier virtual influencer craze (e.g., Lil Miquela) on social media and harness AI with clear utility.