Mark Zuckerberg wants Meta to be the Android of XR

Earlier this week, I attended Meta Connect 2023, the firm’s tenth annual developer convention. During this occasion, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced, amongst different issues, the brand-new Meta Quest 3. A sequel to the Meta Quest 2 (née Oculus Quest 2), the Quest 3 is Meta’s new and upgraded XR headset that retains an introductory worth underneath $500.

During the launch, one phrase stored popping up: “accessible.” Zuckerberg stated it quite a few instances, as did different presenters from the Meta workforce. In the context of this keynote, “accessibility” is getting used actually: Meta wants its merchandise to be obtainable by as many individuals as doable. To do this, it wants to hold a low worth.

Although nobody referred to it by identify, this fixed reference to the affordability of Meta’s merchandise was undoubtedly a dig at Apple. Earlier this 12 months, at its personal developer convention, Apple launched the Vision Pro. That XR headset is a super-powered, forward-thinking, futuristic machine not like something we’ve ever seen. However thrilling it would be, it’s additionally extremely costly, with an introductory worth of a jaw-dropping $3,499 — that’s 7x as a lot as a Quest 3.

While watching the Connect keynote, I couldn’t assist however suppose that the Vision Pro launch has galvanized Meta’s XR ambitions. Seemingly in a single day, Meta went from being a VR {hardware} creator with none clear course to a laser-focused institution. That focus? To be the reasonably priced everyman various to the costly bourgeois Vision Pro.

Being an Android man, it was tough not to examine this to the world I do know. In my opinion, it seems Meta wants its XR merchandise to be the Android cellphone of the headset world.

When Google purchased Android in 2005, it was very intentional about what it needed to do: create an open-source cell working system that any producer may use. In different phrases, it needed Android to be the reverse of Apple’s closed-system strategy on the iPhone.

The open-source nature of Android has widened its attain way over iOS. There are over three billion lively Android customers, representing about 70% of all smartphones globally. This market share dominance is owed to Android’s compatibility with various {hardware} experiences at just about any worth level, from $50 to $2,000. The iPhone could be very well-liked, sure, however it isn’t even in the identical league as Android telephones when it comes to world attain and market share.

This is what Mark Zuckerberg wants. He wants the Meta Quest collection to be seen as the XR headset that just about anybody can get. Apple’s launch of the Vision Pro lastly gave Meta a greater body of reference. After all, you may’t say, “The Meta Quest 3 is actually really cheap for what you get,” if shoppers don’t have one thing to examine it to. Now, with the Vision Pro, it’s apparent how a lot the Quest 3 provides for a fraction of the Vision Pro’s worth of admission.

As with Android telephones and iPhones, it’s not simply pricing that separates the Quest 3 and the Vision Pro, both. The Quest 3 is designed to cater to what common folks need and care about in an XR headset: video games, leisure, and social options. During the Connect keynote, Zuckerberg and co. well targeted on these three facets. Sure, additionally they talked about productiveness, however it was a minor apart in contrast to the three major matters.

Meanwhile, Apple repeatedly sang the praises of the Vision Pro for work throughout its personal launch occasion. It confirmed folks firing up the Vision Pro to do what — fairly frankly — they already do exactly advantageous with no $3,500 headset: sort on a keyboard in entrance of a display screen. It additionally showcased how one can report your recollections with the Vision Pro and watch them again as a 360-degree expertise. However, most individuals I’ve talked to about it discover this complete thought to be extremely creepy. They think about Dad sitting on the sofa along with his bizarre facemask factor, watching the children as they open presents on Christmas morning. No thanks.

Meta didn’t do something like that at its launch occasion. It targeted on all the cool video games coming to the Quest 3, how one can play non-VR Xbox video games utilizing the headset, watch sports activities, hang around with your pals in the metaverse doing enjoyable actions, and so forth. It was all about enjoyable, which is what persons are primarily shopping for these items for, proper?

I received’t lie: From a technological level of view, the Apple Vision Pro looks like a extra revolutionary and extra spectacular system than the Quest 3. The Quest 3 is, indubitably, an iterative improve on one thing we’ve seen earlier than from Meta, Valve, HTC, and others. The Vision Pro, although, is like one thing out of a sci-fi movie. It’s laborious to consider it’s even actual.

Regardless of how ingenious it’s, although, pure innovation doesn’t essentially beget nice client merchandise. Having a futuristic product isn’t sufficient, you want use circumstances to entice folks and excessive adoption charges to transfer ahead.

Making one thing that already exists extra accessible to a bigger viewers is a type of innovation, in my view — one which Apple tends to ignore and to which Meta is giving a heat embrace. Going again to the Android analogy, Zuckerberg is adopting Google’s strategy and banking on most individuals wanting an XR headset that’s easy, reasonably priced, straightforward to use, and prepared to do the issues they need to do. Yes, there’ll be others on the market who will need — and be in a position to afford — the Vision Pro. But Meta wants the 70/30 market share that Android enjoys, and — thanks to Apple’s ludicrous Vision Pro pricing — it simply may get it.