The CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, on Monday, April 22, 2024, announced that the company would be opening up Meta Horizon OS to third-party hardware makers who can use the platform to create unique VR experiences. Meta Horizon OS is the operating system that powers the Meta Quest headsets.
Zuckerberg mentioned Xbox, Lenovo, and Asus as Meta’s foremost partners who would be creating new mixed-reality devices for different use cases that leverage Meta Horizon OS. According to Zuckerberg, it may take over a year for the products from the partnership to hit the market.
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“We are releasing Meta Horizon OS, our operating system that powers Quest virtual and mixed reality headsets, and we’re partnering with some of the best hardware companies out there to design new headsets that are optimized for all the different ways people use this tech,” Zuckerberg announced in a post on Instagram.
Zuckerberg explained that every era of computing always has open and closed models, saying Apple’s closed more “basically won out” in phones. He explained that phones (iPhones) are tightly controlled, and you are kind of stuck with whatever they want you to do. Zuckerberg said it doesn’t have to be that way.
According to the Meta CEO, in the PC era, “the open model won out”. He said the open model of the PC allowed users to do a lot more, “install mods, more diversity of hardware, software, and more”. According to him, that is the same vision he has for virtual and mixed-reality headsets.
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“So, our goal is to make it so that the open model defines the next generation of computing, again with the metaverse glasses and headsets,” Zuckerberg explained. “So, that’s why we are releasing our operating system so that more companies can build different things on it.”
Will opening up Meta Horizon OS make Metaverse more relevant?
Meta’s vision of metaverse becoming the next big thing in entertainment hasn’t materialized as the company has hoped. Since 2021, Meta has invested over $46 billion in the metaverse. However, adoption remains relatively lower than the company had anticipated.
As of 2024, the metaverse is estimated to have around 600 million global monthly active users with more than half of those users being 13 years or younger. Roblox is the most popular metaverse game with 55 million active daily players.
In other words, the users of Metaverse are those who don’t have the spending capacity to boost the company’s revenue. By opening up the Meta Horizon OS, it appears the company wants to create a hub around the Quest to make it more relevant in the market.
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Further explaining the goal of the partnership with third-party hardware makers, Zuckerberg said, “We are partnering with Lenovo, Asus ROG, Xbox, and more to build headsets that are going to be designed for specific use cases”.
“So, you can imagine a lightweight headset that pairs with your computer on your desk to provide the best work experience, whether you’re at home or anywhere else you go, or you can imagine one that’s fully focused on watching immersive entertainment like movies and videos with the highest resolution OLED screens, or, think of one that’s fully optimized for gaming with support for all kinds of different peripherals and haptics.
“You can imagine one that’s designed for exercise, that’s extra light with sweat-wicking materials. Or, maybe just a version that comes out of the box with Xbox controllers or Game Pass so that you can immediately just start playing on a big screen anywhere you go.”
While the ambition for Meta Horizon OS is impressive, it will be interesting to see if the products that emerge from the partnership will be appealing enough to save the dwindling VR market. Sony recently announced that it was pausing the production of PS VR2 because of an unsold backlog.
Do you own a VR headset? If yes, do you find the announcement by Zuckerberg exciting? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.
