It's too early to say it hasn't worked out. Apple is planned to reveal their headset this year. If thats the case, VR/AR may become the norm the same way Smart Phones and Smart Watches are.
If you don't think Meta will release Horizon on Apple's headset, then you havn't been watching.
I wouldn't put smartwatches and smartphones in the same category. I have a smartwatch but my day-to-day life wouldn't change in a material way if I didn't.
Obviously it didn't work out for meta. That isn't even up for debate.
Meta has admitted to pivoting to AI and cutting down their metaverse teams significantly.
Besides, even if Apple succeed. Meta will still be stuck in the exact same situation - under Apple's boots again, which it so desperately tried to escape from by going hardware heavy in VR in the first place.
I don’t see that Zuckerberg avatar, or whatever Apple equivalent of that, pans out in coming 5 years… who does? Who bothers to visually stimulate themselves with recreated face of a living person in VR?
If you don't think Meta will release Horizon on Apple's headset, then you havn't been watching.