There was one word on everyone’s lips this week at Meta’s annual Connect conference focused on virtual reality and the metaverse: Apple.

The Quest 3 VR headset from Meta, which starts at $499 and starts shipping in October, was a big hit with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The company highlighted the growth of its VR app store – Quest Store – which has generated $2 billion in sales since its launch in 2019, up from $1.5 billion last year.

Attendees this year have a much better understanding of Apple’s upcoming entry into the VR market than they did in 2022.

When it goes on sale next year, the iPhone maker’s Vision Pro mixed-reality headset will cost $3,499. While this is Apple’s first major foray into VR, its longstanding dominance in premium consumer devices and its winning reputation in hardware has created a buzz that was lacking at Meta’s prior events.

A dozen attendees at Meta’s Menlo Park, California, headquarters this week said the tone is shifting for developers and VR companies regarding the potential for an expanding industry, even though VR and mixed reality are expected to remain niche for years to come.

“There is definitely curiosity with Apple entering the market,” said Tom Symonds, CEO of Immerse, a UK-based VR firm. A seamless integration of hardware and software has always been Apple’s strength.

The VR industry was experiencing an identity crisis before Apple announced Vision Pro, with venture capitalists withdrawing their investments along with the drop off in Web3 and related crypto projects. Meta has been losing billions of dollars a quarter building its vision of a metaverse, and Zuckerberg shows no signs of slowing down, frustrating Wall Street investors.