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Meta Expands VR Operating System to Third-Party Hardware Makers

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Facebook parent company Meta today announced the upcoming expansion of Meta Horizon OS, a virtual and augmented reality operating system that will be available to third-party hardware manufacturers that want to design their own headsets.

meta-quest-3.jpg

Right now, Meta sells the Quest line of headsets, but the company wants to provide the software for third-party VR and AR products in the future, much like Microsoft offers Windows for all manner of third-party PCs.

Meta Horizon OS is the mixed reality operating system that Meta created for its own Quest headsets, and it has support for eye, face, hand, and body tracking along with passthrough, spatial anchors, scene understanding, and other features. There is a "social layer" that will allow the identities, avatars, and friends of users to move between virtual spaces on different devices.

According to Meta, multiple companies are working on devices that will use Meta Horizon OS. ASUS ROG is developing a performance gaming headset and Lenovo is working on mixed reality devices for productivity, learning, and entertainment. Meta says that it is also creating a limited edition version of Meta Quest in partnership with Xbox.

With the expansion of Meta Horizon OS to third-party hardware manufacturers, Meta is making it easier for any developer to ship VR software on the platform by removing barriers between the Horizon Store and App Lab.

By creating an operating system that can be used by other hardware manufacturers, Meta is inserting itself into the growing AR/VR ecosystem and creating opportunities for it to outpace Apple in mixed reality development. Apple launched the Vision Pro headset earlier this year, but software is lacking given the high price and limited distribution of the device.

According to a report from earlier today, interest in the Vision Pro is already waning at Apple's retail locations with fewer people requesting demos.

Article Link: Meta Expands VR Operating System to Third-Party Hardware Makers
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/04/22/meta-expands-vr-operating-system/
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Fraserh02

Fraserh02

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Jun 18, 2017
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We have IOS and android, Mac and Windows: if VR/AR is the future like these companies want us to believe, a platform war between Apple’s traditional walled garden approach and a more ‘open’/licensable alternative makes sense.
 
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erikkfi

erikkfi

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May 19, 2017
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This product category is kind of a dead end in its current form, but I will never, ever, ever use another product made by Meta. If they have a total monopoly over the category and almost all of society's business requires the use of one, I'll live off the grid.
 
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corbindav

corbindav

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The standalone VR/AR headset market is getting interesting. Meta Horizon OS and the Meta Store has the biggest games library of any VR platform right now, but it has almost no non-gaming applications and the web browser isn't that great. Google and Samsung are working on their own platform that will probably have most Android apps running in 2D, but who knows if they can get a similar VR/AR games library. Then there's Apple, which has productivity apps but next to no games and a price tag out of reach for most people. PSVR and PC VR also eat into some of that market for games, but the Quest 2 is the most popular headset for tethered PC VR right now.

Now we're in a three-way race for standalone VR/AR: Meta, Apple, and (at some point, probably this year) Samsung/Google.

robd003 said:
Isn't this just a layer on top of Android?
Click to expand...

The Quest software is based on Android, but the UI, store, and all the apps are custom. It's "Android" in the same way that a Huawei phone is "Android".
 
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Amazing Iceman

Amazing Iceman

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Meta and Apple have a different goal in mind for their products:
Meta: Metaverse as a social universe. Their source of revenue is not based on selling devices but services that can help them with their data mining. That’s why they are angry at Apple for pushing hard towards user privacy.

Apple: AR/VR device as a productivity tool with app consumption and as an entertainment device. Social interactions needed for data mining are not in their plans, except for regular communications that don’t compromise user privacy. In plain words, Apple is not pushing for a “metaverse-like” environment.

That’s why comparing both products don’t make much sense. Each has its main purpose.
That’s why we never heard of surgeons using Quests to operate on patients, or engineers designing high precision machinery using a Quest.
Two products aimed at different markets.
 
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spaxxedout

spaxxedout

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Jun 4, 2018
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corbindav said:
The standalone VR/AR headset market is getting interesting. Meta Horizon OS and the Meta Store has the biggest games library of any VR platform right now, but it has almost no non-gaming applications and the web browser isn't that great. Google and Samsung are working on their own platform that will probably have most Android apps running in 2D, but who knows if they can get a similar VR/AR games library. Then there's Apple, which has productivity apps but next to no games and a price tag out of reach for most people. PSVR and PC VR also eat into some of that market for games, but the Quest 2 is the most popular headset for tethered PC VR right now.

Now we're in a three-way race for standalone VR/AR: Meta, Apple, and (at some point, probably this year) Samsung/Google.



The Quest software is based on Android, but the UI, store, and all the apps are custom. It's "Android" in the same way that a Huawei phone is "Android".
Click to expand...

Great write up. I think we’re getting Android XR and maybe a sneak peak at the Galaxy headset in 3 weeks at Google I/O. Then WWDC 4 weeks after that.
 
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H

Harry Haller

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Oct 31, 2023
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darngooddesign said:
Car accidents is a weird measure of dystopia.
Click to expand...

Not to the victims.
www.vox.com

You aren’t imagining things — drivers are more distracted by their phones than ever

During the pandemic, distracted driving increased, and it hasn’t gone down since.
www.vox.com www.vox.com

"The report also notes how the rise of smartphone use roughly corresponds to the rise in pedestrian fatalities: About 4,600 people were killed while walking in 2007, the year the iPhone was introduced. By 2021, with 85 percent of Americans owning smartphones, the number rose to 7,485."

I bet it's 10,000 by now.
In one country.
Pretty dystopian to me.
 
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