Google reportedly asked Meta to partner and “contribute” to its upcoming XR platform, but Meta said no.
This claim comes from a report in today’s Information newspaper, which quotes “persons involved in the negotiations.”
“I can see they got this story from Google,” Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said in a Threads post.
“After years of not focusing on VR or doing anything to support our efforts in this space, Google is selling Android XR to partners and, incredibly, attempting to fragment the ecosystem. That’s exactly what we’re suggesting.
We want to partner with them. They can bring their apps to Quest now. They could introduce the Play Store (with the current economics of 2D apps) and immediately add value to all developers. This is exactly the kind of open app ecosystem we want. Please use all means. It will be a win for developers and all consumers, and we will continue to push it forward.
In exchange, we’re asking them to agree to restrictive terms that require them to give up their freedom to innovate and build better experiences for people and developers. We’ve seen this play out before, and we think we can do it better this time. ”
The Meta Quest operating system is a fork of Android’s open source core (known as AOSP), a strategy similar to Amazon’s Fire OS for Fire tablets. Meta has been working on this development for at least seven years, since the feature first appeared on his Oculus Go in 2018.
That same year, Lenovo launched a standalone headset running Google’s own VR OS, Daydream, which includes Google Play Services, the Play Store, Google Apps, and the VR core technology on top of AOSP. However, less than two years later, at the end of 2019, Google abandoned his Daydream platform, and no other standalone headsets ever used his Daydream platform.
Google + Lenovo’s standalone Daydream VR headset, Mirage Solo, now available for $399
The Oculus Go isn’t the only major standalone VR headset launching this week. Lenovo’s Mirage Solo has also just been released. Available for $399, Solo is the first standalone VR device to run on Daydream, Google’s mobile VR ecosystem. Run all games and experiences.
Back in early 2023, Samsung announced that it was working on XR hardware and that Google would be responsible for the software. In June, Business Insider reported that the operating system would be called Android XR, a new variant of Google’s Android (AOSP + Google’s closed source additions), just like Android TV.
Samsung will be the first hardware maker to adopt Android XR, but The Information reports that Google is also promoting Android There are no reports that other companies have accepted it.
Samsung’s Google-powered headset will be released in late 2024
Samsung’s Google-powered XR headset is expected to be available in very limited quantities in late 2024. Click here for details:
Meanwhile, Meta and LG confirmed on Wednesday that they have entered into a “strategic partnership” in XR, which includes “the development of next-generation XR devices.” This follows multiple reports in the Korean press that LG will produce a future Quest Pro headset powered by the Meta Quest platform, with the first devices arriving in 2025 for around $2,000.
Google and Meta’s XR strategies could end up being very similar, with both companies competing to get hardware companies to adopt their platforms.
| apple vision |
meta quest |
Google android xr |
|
| hardware strategy | first party | first party + third party |
third party |
| hardware price | profit | Subsidy available | profit |
| existing Ecosystem integration |
✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
Meta’s strengths lie in its large existing library of fully immersive content, its acquisition of eight experienced VR game studios, and its ability to sell its hardware at cost or at a loss. However, its weakness is the lack of an existing flat-screen computing platform, making it impossible to achieve cross-device integration or easily deploy a library of 2D apps.
Meanwhile, Google is bringing the Play Store to Android XR, bringing over millions of 2D apps and deep integration with data from existing Android smartphones, Chrome passwords and bookmarks, and Google apps such as Photos.
Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s chief technology officer, said he previously asked Google to bring the Play Store to Meta Quest, but Google said no. In a post on X today, Bosworth said Google could introduce its own apps if it wanted.
Meta CTO: We asked Google to bring the Play Store to Quest
Meta’s CTO said that Google has rejected their request to bring the Play Store to Quest.
Meanwhile, Google and Meta’s partnership to build the XR platform combines Quest’s immersive content library with Google’s Android phone and app ecosystem integration, offering a Leviathan power to Apple’s Vision headset. There is a possibility that
But on the other hand, it is unclear how the business details of such a partnership would actually work, and how decisions would be made about core design and engineering choices that the two companies strongly disagree with. According to a report in The Information, Google’s proposal includes Meta “contributing” to the development of Android XR, suggesting that Google would have final say on core issues of the OS.
Given business reasons and Google’s track record in XR and platforms in general, it’s understandable why Meta doesn’t want to rely on Google. His Daydream headset was discontinued after less than two years of his life, and the Stadia gaming platform was discontinued after his third year. They join a long list of platforms and services in Google’s graveyard.
