The metaverse stole the show at the worlds biggest mobile event — and things got weird
Summary
The term has been the talk of the tech world ever since Facebook changed its name to Meta, a rebrand largely aimed at drumming up hype for Mark Zuckerbergs vision for the virtual universe. And at MWC, the worlds biggest trade show for the mobile phone industry, the word was repeatedly dropped into keynote speeches and splashed across exhibition stands. "The metaverse is the buzzword of the moment," CCS Insight Chief Analyst Ben Wood told CNBC at the show, stressing that its still quite a nebulous term. "Theres the weird, wacky and the wonderful on show here at MWC, all trying to jump on the bandwagon that is the metaverse" Paolo Pescatore, tech, telecom and media analyst at PP Foresight, told CNBC. "At the moment, you can put the word metaverse in most things with job titles or initiatives and it sort of makes something thats not yet that clear seem very modern and exciting," Marc Allera, CEO of BTs consumer brands, told CNBC.