Mark Zuckerberg says Meta will offer its virtual reality OS to hardware companies, creating iPhone versus Android dynamic

Meta
will
partner
with
external
hardware
companies,
including
Lenovo,
Microsoft
and
Asus,
to
build
virtual
reality
headsets
using
the
company’s
Meta
Horizon
operating
system,
the
company
said
Monday.

The
move
will
create
new
hardware
devices
that
run
on
the
same
operating
system
and
software
as
Meta’s
current
first-party
virtual
reality
hardware,
such
as
the
Quest
3
and
Quest
Pro.

The
move
further
defines
the
fault
lines
of
the
virtual
reality
hardware
market,
months
after
Apple
released
its
$3,500
virtual
reality
headset
called

Vision
Pro
in
January.

According
to
Meta
CEO
Mark
Zuckerberg,
who
shared
the
news

in
an
Instagram
video
Monday,
the
announcement
essentially
recreates
the
Android
versus
iOS
dynamic
in
smartphones
—
only
for
virtual
reality
headsets.


Apple’s
VR
product
will
remain
pricier,
and
vertically
integrated,
but
it
will
have
to
compete
against
a
range
of
different
hardware
devices
at
various
prices,
all
running
atop
Meta’s
operating
system.

“In
every
era
of
computing,
there
are
always
open
and
closed
models,”

Zuckerberg
said. “With
phones,
Apple’s
closed
model
basically
won
out.
Phones
are
tightly
controlled,
and
you’re
locked
into
what
they’ll
let
you
do.
But
it
doesn’t
have
to
be
this
way.”

The
decision
to
make
its
operating
system
available
to
hardware
partners
also
lines
up
with
Meta’s
stated
strategic
reasoning
for
spending
billions
of
dollars
per
quarter
on
virtual
reality
technology
inside
its
Reality
Labs
division.
In
the
fourth
quarter
of
2023,
Meta

reported
an
operating
loss
of
$4.65
billion
in
the
division
on
$1
billion
in
sales.

For
years,
Meta
has
chafed
against

Apple’s
App
Store
rules.
Zuckerberg
has
said
that
the
company
is
trying
to
develop
a
next-generation
platform
in
virtual
and
augmented
reality,
with
a
Meta-controlled
app
store,
so
that
Apple
can’t
reject
its
apps
or
charge
fees.
Meta’s
plan
to
offer
an
operating
system
platform
is
the
culmination
of
years
of
internal
investment.

“Our
goal
is
to
make
it
said
the
open
model
defines
the
next
generation
of
computing
again
with
the
metaverse,
glasses
and
headsets,”
Zuckerberg
said.

Zuckerberg
also
asked


Google
to
bring
its
Google
Play
app
store
to
Horizon-based
headsets.
He
said
that
Meta
would
also
allow
Steam
and


Microsoft’s
Xbox
Cloud
Gaming
to
run
on
its
operating
system.
Meta
Horizon
is
based
on
a
version
of
Android,
allowing
for
easier
ports
of
apps
from
phones
to
virtual
reality.

“If
they’re
up
for
it,
our
philosophy
is
that
we
want
you
to
be
able
to
run
the
content
on
Quest
or
any
Meta
Horizon
operating
system
headset,”
Zuckerberg
said.

Meta
did
not
detail
the
business
arrangements
with
its
hardware
partners
nor
its
business
model
for
the
software.
In
the
case
of
Google’s
Android
operating
system
for
phones,
it
offers
the
software
for
free
and
monetizes
its
research
and
development
through
directing
user
searches
to
Google,
selling
ads
alongside
those
searches.
Sometimes,
Google

pays
hardware
partners.

Meta
says
that
opening
up
its
operating
system
to
hardware
partners
will
enable
them
to
create
specific
kinds
of
hardware
for
different
markets,
such
as
gaming
and
productivity,
or
even
a
device
built
for
low
weight.
Zuckerberg
imagined
a
device
that
may “come
out
of
the
box
with
Xbox
controllers,”
for
example.
Meta
said
it
would
create
a
version
of
its
Quest
headset “inspired”
by
Xbox.
Zuckerberg
said
it
may
take
a “couple
of
years”
for
the
new
devices
to
hit
the
market.