[Bbanggubneun Tajagi] Is Huawei Hongmeng OS the Hope of the Metaverse?

Zhao Guodong, Li Huanhuan, Xu Yuanzhong 'Seize the Digital New World Metaverse'

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] "More than 90% of human activities?from scientific research to art, education, development, and design?could take place in the metaverse."

We live in a world where everyone is talking about the metaverse (an extended virtual world). Most industries consider it a hot topic and are drawing their own visions. However, it remains a field that is still far from full understanding. It is an uncharted territory just beginning to be explored. Everyone is offering interpretations and dreams, claiming to be the trend. Amid this, a big data expert, a private equity CEO, and a blockchain entrepreneur from Zhongguancun in Beijing?known as China’s Silicon Valley?have joined forces to take the lead. While many debate, the metaverse is already close at hand, so they have thoroughly analyzed and defined its nature, value orientation, systems, and order.

The authors emphasize that we need to view the metaverse anew, including its meaning, metaverse economy, metaverse ecosystem, digital transformation of traditional industries, and the generation leading the metaverse. They foresee it not only driving the digital transformation of industries but also creating new industrial clusters such as virtual transportation, virtual goods, natural environments, and travel, growing several times larger than the real world.

They particularly identify games as the medium to realize the metaverse. The authors compare games to the British textile industry during the Industrial Revolution. Just as the rapid development of the textile industry then spurred advances in chemistry, railroads, machinery, and other sectors, the gaming industry is expected to establish 5G, cloud computing, augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), virtual reality (VR), and even digital currency.

The expansion will cover not only the physical technology ecosystem but also the economic ecosystem. They predict the formation of a metaverse-specific economy that is neither blindly market-centered nor centrally planned. At this point, the authors stress the importance of regulation, arguing that outdated regulatory tools restrict the freedom that ensures efficient market operation.

However, they do not advocate for the American-style ‘negative regulation’ (allowing everything except prohibited items) to avoid hindering new markets opened by emerging technologies. Instead, they emphasize the importance of ‘perfect regulation’ that can be applied in real time using advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). Fundamentally, they argue that the more sufficient the regulation, the freer the market becomes. Since regulatory boundaries in digital markets are variable and adjustable, and markets are constantly changing, establishing and implementing a perfect regulatory system can solve losses caused by market failures.

The unique conclusions do not end here. In the latter part, a somewhat distinctive China-centered perspective emerges. Using Google as an example, they point out that internet platform companies have become ‘evil,’ while emphasizing that ‘Hongmeng,’ an operating system (OS) created by Huawei alongside Ethereum, is the hope for the metaverse era, surpassing Google, Apple, and Microsoft (MS). Although MS’s latest Windows OS version, ‘Windows 11,’ has started supporting Google Android applications, this is merely a combination of PC and mobile phones. Therefore, they argue it is outmatched by Hongmeng OS, which from its launch has been used on PCs, TVs, smart cars, vacuum cleaners, VR glasses, and more.

These contents may cause readers outside China to raise their eyebrows. However, it is clear that the book offers much to ponder from various perspectives beyond a general understanding of the metaverse, including industrial ecosystems, economy, infrastructure, and regulation. With thoughtful and critical thinking, it can serve as a sufficient guidebook for the vague concept of the ‘metaverse.’

Written by Zhao Guodong, Li Huanhuan, Xu Yuanzhong | Translated by Jeong Joo-eun | Media Soop | 18,800 KRW

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.