The Facebook group Meta is relying on collaborations to defend its leading position in the virtual reality business against new competition from Apple. Meta will also make the operating system for its VR glasses available to other manufacturers in the future, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Monday.
On this basis, for example, there will be a gaming headset from Asus, VR glasses for the Xbox from Microsoft and a device from the PC market leader Lenovo that brings together digital and real content. However, for some of the new products it could take “a few years” before they come onto the market, Zuckerberg said.
Meta bought VR pioneer Oculus a decade ago and has since invested billions in the virtual reality business. Zuckerberg even changed the company name from Facebook to Meta to underline its focus on the digital world “Metaverse”. But VR glasses have so far remained a niche business, even if Meta leads the market with the Quest brand.
In February, Apple released Vision Pro glasses in the US, which are heavily focused on blending digital content into the real world. Meta’s current model Quest 3 also has this ability. However, Apple has the strategic advantage of bringing the headset into users’ everyday lives in conjunction with iPhones and Mac computers. US tech journalists praised the Vision Pro as a breakthrough, while Zuckerberg declared the Quest 3 to be technically superior in a video.
Zuckerberg said on Monday that Apple’s “closed” business model had prevailed in smartphones, in which the operator has control over what is allowed on the platform. But he wants an “open” model for the technology to prevail, like in the PC industry. According to this example, Meta’s Horizon OS operating system is intended to take over the role of Windows in PCs in the market.
dpa