Time.news – It was widely announced and so it was: the Meta Quest Pro, the new virtual reality viewer (for companies and workplaces) signed by Mark Zuckerberg, was the real and awaited protagonist of the opening keynote of Meta Connect 2022, the conference of the developers of the parent company of Facebook, scheduled for Tuesday 11 October. “The Metaverse – said Zuckerberg at the opening – is an incredible technology that gives so many opportunities. We believe in this vision, the more people and creators there are now in virtual reality and the more brands in the Metaverse, it is a sign that the future is not that far away. “” We – he added – have been there since the beginning. Aside from the games, it will be a social experience. ”
After the vision, immediately the numbers. Zuckerberg said that one app out of 3, on the Quest store (that of the viewers), has millionaire revenues: a total of 33 apps achieved revenues over 10 million dollars, an increase from the 22 apps, capable of reaching the same results, recorded in February 2022, and the number of apps has doubled since 2021, with revenues over 5 million dollars.
Anticipated in the course of a podcast and announced a month ago by Zuckerberg in a post on Facebook, exactly one year after the company’s name change, the Meta Quest Pro ($ 1,500, $ 1,799.99) was announced as a device with a computing power such as to capture the real world with external cameras and display it inside the viewer in real time and in color. The new headset and how it will be received will be a key test of Zuckerberg’s efforts to steer Meta towards creating virtual reality and augmented reality hardware for the Metaverse.
Reality Labs, Meta’s division responsible for the development of the Metaverse, lost $ 10.2 billion in 2021 and $ 6 this year.The company said one reason the technology didn’t take off is that the hardware didn’t take off. it’s still pretty good. Not only that, Meta Connect 2022 and the new viewer arrived in a context of difficulties for the company. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal released in late September, Palo Alto is grappling with a plan to rationalize resources and internal reorganization: an expected cost cut of 10%. An even more recent Business Insider report confirms the difficulties, reports that Meta is conducting “silent layoffs” and that projected cost cuts are 15%.
The quarterly data will also be released on October 26th. As a result of the previous one, Meta is forced to deal with an increase of 22% on an annual basis in costs and expenses for a total of almost 20.4 billion dollars. The company also recorded its first-ever revenue drop from a year ago and predicted that its sales would decline again in the third quarter.
Meta Quest Pro in detail
Formerly known as Project Cambria, the new headset presents itself as the updated version of the Quest for consumers. Leverage thin pancake lenses and pass-through technology, plus eye tracking, to enhance remote work settings and provide new workflow solutions. The device has outward facing cameras that capture the sounds of the surrounding environment. The battery has been repositioned and is located on the back, distributing its weight more evenly while reducing the overall footprint. There is no shortage of tracking sensors that can replicate users’ eye movements and facial expressions, creating the feeling that the avatars are making eye contact. Meta Quest Pro is powered by Snapdragon XR2 Plus, a processor developed in collaboration between Meta and Qualcomm, which promises 50% higher VR performance than Meta Quest 2. The price? A big leap compared to Quest 2, which costs 399 dollars.
During the keynote, Zuckerberg said that this viewer is “suitable for those who want to work in the Metaverse”, therefore something that has in some ways a different focus from Meta Quest 2, so much so that it has partnered with companies such as Autodesk, Adobe and Microsoft. : during the event, the CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella appeared to announce the arrival of the Microsoft 365 service on Quest Pro and wink at the concept of “virtual office”. Among the news, Meta announced that the Avatar Store in VR will be launched during the year.
A tweak to Horizon
In addition to revealing Project Cambria, Meta also unveiled updates to Horizon Worlds (available from December in the US and Canada for users with a Quest 2 headset, 300,000 subscribers), its social networking app dedicated to the Metaverse.
In particular, Meta announced a series of new features for Horizon Workrooms, the VR space for team connection and collaboration. New features include more expressive avatars, workgroups with spatial audio, sticky notes for the whiteboard, the new controller stylus tip for better writing, and a personal office that offers the ability to use large virtual screens and pass mode. through color for increased productivity.