ByteDance is a Metaverse Company Too
We know that Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet are all poised for the “Metaverse”. But how about the most secretive product company that disrupted Instagram with TikTok globally since 2020?
That could would be ByteDance.
They have been working on the future of gaming, Ed-Tech, streaming and social commerce augmented E-commerce for a few years now. These are all things that translate into the Metaverse fairly well.
In August, 2021 ByteDance did something that will prove to be pivotal in the history of the Metaverse. TikTok owner ByteDance has made its first foray into virtual reality (VR) through the acquisition of a start-up called Pico.
Pico was the third-largest virtual reality headset maker globally in the first quarter of 2021, with shipments growing 44.7% year-on-year, according to IDC.
This acquisition was not covered very much in Metaverse circles in the West. ByteDance is China’s most innovative consumer-app and A.I company. That they were not preparing for the Metaverse for the last few years is pretty impossible.
I have been singing the praises of ByteDance, even though they are a technology company that’s run like a section of the Chinese military. It’s no fluke.
For ByteDance, which found success with TikTok and Chinese version Douyin, the Pico acquisition marks a push to diversify its business. ByteDance understand the GenZ consumer both in China and globally, probably better than any other BigTech company. ByteDance will go IPO in 2022 or early 2023 in Hong Kong.
Facebook has spent about $10 Billion a year on the Metaverse. ByteDance found success with short video app TikTok and Chinese version Douyin, as well as news aggregation app Toutiao. But it’s how it’s gone into other sectors like Gaming, Education, AI-as-a-Service and even a slack-like app (communications) that has impressed me.
ByteDance is most likely to be able to attract GenZ users via TikTok’s incredible pull as the most popular mobile destination of the internet we have today in 2022. Literally whatever they decide to do will have incredible momentum, Softbank Vision fund dollars and Chinese Government backing.
When Apple bought NextVR we knew their entry into VR and augmented reality would be pretty strong in 2022 and 2023. ByteDance has had many years to prepare to take on Facebook (now Meta) in the Metaverse wars for the future of consumer attention, entertainment and even the future of work (Microsoft).
ByteDance has in 2021 already surpassed Facebook or Google’s ability to penetrate E-commerce sales with a consumer apps family of products. ByteDance doesn’t have to focus just on digital advertising because it understand the Metaverse will be bigger than that.
It will be able to capitalize on the next version of the internet and social media. This is because ByteDance understand GenZ and a diversified business model. Like Microsoft, ByteDance has invested in gaming to a significant degree in recent years.
Pico was the third-largest virtual reality headset maker globally in the first quarter of 2021, with shipments growing 44.7% year-on-year, according to IDC. That’s not an immature startup in the Metaverse infancy years of 2019 to 2022.
In 2020, TikTok overtook Facebook Messenger as the world’s most downloaded app. In 2021 it took over Google as the internet’s most visited destination and popular website. What can it do in the Metaverse in the decade to come? What digital experiences can it build?
Alan Smithson really inspired me recently in a Medium post. He gave a stunning overview of what the Metaverse looks like:
Fundamental Metaverse Technologies
XR (Extended Reality)= 3D, Avatars, Communication, VR/AR/MR, Volumetric Capture, Haptics, Scent, Spatial Audio, Game Engines.
AI (Artificial Intelligence)= Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Simultaneous Location And Mapping (SLAM), Automated Content Creation, Suggestion Algorithms.
Blockchain = Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT’s), Cryptocurrency (BTC, HBAR, ETH), Smart Contracts (ETH, HBAR, , Distributed Autonomous Organizations (DAO’s), Digital Land, Decentralized Finance (DeFi). (Web3).
In terms of product experiences and combining them with A.I. I think ByteDance is a top five company in the world. In terms of innovation and offering new experiences on consumer levels I think they are likely the best in China, I think before 2025 they could become the best in the world.
The Metaverse will be the real proving ground of ByteDance’s innovation abilities. Faecbook had been dominant in consumer apps for so long. Google, Apple and Microsoft had pre-pandemic been slow to innovate new products that really brought VR/AR and WFM tools to life. But the pandemic has been good for digital transformation products.
The Metaverse (also referred to as Web3) is a combination of a number of exponential technologies building on the infrastructure of the internet to provide a new set of tools for us to live, work, learn and augment ourselves. I think ByteDance is very well positioned to be a Metaverse leader in the 2020s.