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STORY: Some of the biggest names in tech - including Meta Platforms, Microsoft and China's Alibaba - announced they have formed the Metaverse Standards Forum, a group set up to advance the development of industry standards that would make each of their digital worlds compatible with each other.

But conspicuously missing from the member list for now is Apple, which many analysts expect will become a dominant player in the metaverse race once it introduces a mixed-reality headset this year or next.

Apple has not yet publicly acknowledged plans for a headset, but Bloomberg reported that it gave its board a sneak peek of the product.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the metaverse forum.

Introducing such a device would put Apple in direct competition with Meta, which changed its named last year from Facebook and has staked its future on the growth of the metaverse and has disclosed plans for its own mixed-reality headset code-named "Cambria" to be released this year.

An executive at chipmaker Nvidia who is chairing the Metaverse Standards Forum, said in a statement to Reuters that any company is welcome to join the group, which he said aims to facilitate communication between a variety of players involved in creating the metaverse. But he did not address how Apple's absence from the forum would affect that goal.