Facebook: 2018 Focus VR All-in-One Drives VR Devices to the Mainstream

In 2018, Facebook will focus on the development of VR all-in-ones. The main goal is to promote the mainstream of VR devices. In achieving this goal, VR R&D leader Barra also shared with us the importance of the VR all-in-one.

One of the big wishes of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is to use VR (Virtual Reality) for 1 billion users. At present, this is a very ambitious goal. Relevant data shows that in the third quarter of last year, the entire industry's VR equipment shipments were only 1 million units.

To this end, Recode interviewed Zuckerberg's executive director Hugo Barra in the VR business. Barra has long worked for Google and has served as an executive at China's smartphone maker Xiaomi. At the beginning of last year, he became the vice president of Facebook's VR business. During Google, Barra was responsible for several early versions of Android R&D, and later joined Xiaomi to help Xiaomi expand its overseas market. Today, he has become the de facto CEO of Facebook's Oculus business. Oculus is actually a virtual reality company that Facebook acquired in 2014 for more than $2 billion.

At this week's International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Barra presented a product that helps Facebook accelerate its ambitious goal in virtual reality, the new VR all-in-one However, the VR all-in-one exhibited by Barra is mainly aimed at the Chinese market. Currently, Facebook is working with Xiaomi to solve the technical affairs of this new product and the distribution of the new product.

Although this cooperation was carried out after Bara left Xiaomi to join Facebook, Bara said that his influence on Facebook's social zone is not much. In an interview with the media this week, Bara said, "It has been a long time since Xiaomi and Oculus have established a cooperative relationship."

Of course, in the process of helping to achieve Facebook's ambitious goals, it is the importance of the so-called "VR all-in-one". The so-called VR all-in-one machine means that the device is not equipped with a bulky connection cable and does not need to be connected to a smart phone. In Barra's view, the VR all-in-one is the key to driving VR devices into the mainstream in the future.

Last October, Facebook announced the launch of its first VR all-in-one, the "Oculus Go," which showed its second almost identical device in the Chinese market on Monday. The two devices are expected to be available this year. In addition, Facebook also showed off a prototype of a standalone VR all-in-one last fall called "Santa Cruz", but the specific launch date of this device has not yet been announced. In fact, other Facebook competitors, such as Google and HTC, have also launched their own VR all-in-one devices.

In this regard, Barra said, "One machine is the most user-friendly device, users can wear it easily, do not need to worry about many other problems, we think this is the most convenient VR device that can exist. For us, To attract as many users as possible to use VR technology, the VR all-in-one is a very critical product."

Recode: Facebook has always wanted to break into the Chinese market. Will Oculus become a bridge for Facebook to expand into more Chinese markets? Or is this new VR device acting separately from Facebook?

Barra: More cases belong to the latter. It has been a long time since Xiaomi and Oculus have established a partnership. We want our partners to be a company that has a reputation for building high-quality consumer electronics, and to be able to push these products to consumers in a cheap way. In addition, we also hope that partners have certain VR experience, understand the industry, and take the lead in the Chinese market. There is no doubt that they all meet these standards very well. In fact, not all companies meet these standards.

Recode: Why do you take over VR work on Facebook? Is this a work of passion for technology for you?

Barra: The first job in my life was an internship at the Disney Image Engineering department, mainly in the DisneyQuest project. Now it seems that these jobs have certain VR characteristics, that is, Disney built 20 years ago. The theme parks with virtual reality features are the reason why they can now make a lot of virtual reality experiences. Therefore, I can be described as a long-term lover of virtual reality, whether as a consumer or an engineer. I have the opportunity to work on platform development, but there are few opportunities to develop something that is one of the most important platforms in our industry, or something that is very important to consumers around the world. I think that what we have -- especially Facebook's way of looking at these issues -- what we have in VR and what Oculus has is one of the things that are precious.

Recode: Has Oculus been different since you joined?

Barra: I think one of the things I help with is to really understand the importance of accessible devices and the importance of focusing on devices that are easy to use. Of course, many of the things we bring to market with Oculus Go products are my personal and passionate work. If I am not here, will these things happen? I don't know, but I think it might happen, but I'm not sure. All in all, this is a product that makes me very passionate.

Recode: The idea of ​​making products affordable is to benefit from the time and experience of working in Xiaomi?

Barra: Indeed, both, and to a large extent, come from my previous experience with Xiaomi, Android, and other Google departments, when we were building apps for early mobile phones. Previously I was building a platform, including those that allowed these platforms to attract as many gamers as possible.

Recode: What is the biggest misunderstanding of VR?

Barra: I think it's an isolationist view that once users use VR, they isolate themselves from the world and others. However, in our opinion, the opposite is true. In fact, VR is a new technology that connects users to other people who may not be able to connect easily. I think that isolationist users may not have seen this yet, or they have not tried this experience yet.

Recode: In addition to the price, what obstacles will VR devices bring to more users?

Barra: Of course, to bring a good experience to users, we also need to develop a content ecosystem so that we can bring a diverse experience to users. I have a VR headset and you also have a VR headset, what can we do when we are together? Maybe we can watch the movie together, we can sculpture together, or draw together, play games together, play cards together, browse the website together, in short, this is just the beginning.

Recode: You have a deep understanding of the state of the early Android, then how would you compare the early VR situation with the early state of the mobile industry?

Barra: Your question reminds me of a lot of things about mobile. I remember that the research and development of the mobile business is moving from HTML5 and webpages to navigation development, and from navigational development to a more dynamic UI from a static UI. Whenever these design changes or the way the application is created changes, the developer must experience an experience, but with arguments and advances, this is the case.

Recode: Are you interested in building an Oculus retail store?

Barra: At present, we have no plans in this regard. I don't think it's necessary to do this, at least not now, because our partners are happy to work with us to put Oculus equipment into their own retail business.

Recode: If you can only achieve one goal this year, what will this goal be?

Barra: Of course, we are building our partnership in this new product, which is the VR all-in-one product. We are currently working on Oculus Go's article, of course, we will also invest in Santa Cruz. My confirmation is that catching the VR all-in-one is one of the most important tasks we face this year.

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