Mehta reportedly ruled out a potential partnership with Google that would have seen the two companies collaborate on an augmented reality platform.
The Information first reported that Meta and Google executives are rumored to have met late last year about a proposal to co-develop Android XR, with Meta ultimately walking away.
Meta currently runs a modified version of Android on its headset, but Google hasn’t made the full suite of apps available. It also prevents Meta from bringing his Android Play Store to its own devices, which would make thousands of apps available and further expand Meta’s appeal.
Smartphone apps are an immediate advantage for headset manufacturers, and Apple leveraged the capabilities of iOS apps when it launched its Vision Pro headset earlier this year.
Vision Pro has over 1,000 dedicated spatial apps available, but also supports over 1 million smartphone apps. This is a resource that the meta does not need to call.
The Information reported that Google would give Meta access to more Android apps if it agreed to the partnership, but Meta is reluctant to cede control of the platform that powers the Quest headset.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he wants to “own” the next computing platform the same way Microsoft owned the PC era and Apple owned the smartphone era.
For Google, the gatekeeper of the Android app store, a partnership with Meta will allow the company to enter a market it has not had any influence over before.
Google Glass was launched as a consumer headset, died, was revived as an enterprise headset, and then died again last year.
The company also scrapped another pair of glasses last year, dubbed Project Iris, despite touting its features and releasing promotional materials at Google I/O.
Google also cut the team running its XR hardware division earlier this year, putting itself in the middle of an XR partnership with Samsung and chipmaker Qualcomm.
Meanwhile, Meta is reportedly planning to launch augmented reality glasses towards the end of this year.
According to a report from Business Insider, Meta plans to demo the specs at Connect, but there are no plans to make it available for purchase right away. Meta has not yet revealed the dates for Connect 2024, but it is typically held in September or October.
In an interview late last year, Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth waxed lyrical about the glasses Meta’s staff use internally, but tempered his excitement by claiming they likely would never see the light of day. It was just that.
“This is probably the most exciting prototype we’ve ever developed,” he said.
