America
Google jumps big time into virtual reality race?
New York, March 9
A team of engineers at
Google is reportedly working to build a version of the Android operating
system to power virtual-reality applications.
The move comes on
the heels of Facebook’s $2 billion purchase of Oculus VR. Wall Street
Journal quoted “two people familiar with the project†as saying that
Google has “tens of engineers†and other staff working on the project.
Google
plans to freely distribute the new operating system, they said,
mimicking a strategy that has made Android by far the most popular
operating system for smartphones.
The project is speculative,
because no virtual-reality devices are yet shipping in large numbers.
But game companies, filmmakers and others see huge promise in the field.
Virtual
reality was the highlight of the recently held Game Developers
Conference in San Francisco. Attendees waited for two hours for a
demonstration of the Oculus product.
Facebook jumped ahead of
rivals by buying Oculus, which makes a headset that wearers strap over
their eyes to project virtual-reality images.
Facebook chief
executive Mark Zuckerberg has said that virtual reality will be the next
“computing platform†after mobile devices, and he hopes Oculus will
power a new generation of “immersive†experiences, from games to remote
learning to virtual doctor appointments.
The Oculus deal helped
spark a race to develop virtual-reality systems. Oculus uses its own
hardware and software for its headset, just as Apple Inc. uses its own
hardware and software for the iPhone. Software developers build their
applications on top of these systems.
Separately, Google has
another team testing a special tablet that uses multiple cameras to
“augment reality†by projecting images onto real world objects.