KEY POINTS
Mark Zuckerberg’s visionary words in 2014 set the stage for what would become a decade-long journey into virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Now, 10 years after the acquisition of Oculus, Meta celebrates a decade of innovation in Reality Labs.
On April 3, Meta took a reflective look back at its journey toward realizing its metaverse ambitions, tracing its milestones from 2014 to nowadays.
Beginning with the humble origins of the Oculus dev kit, enthusiasts rallied behind the vision, leading to groundbreaking developments like the Oculus Rift and Touch controllers. These innovations paved the way for standalone VR experiences like Oculus Go and Oculus Rift S, which brought immersive gaming and entertainment into homes without the need for cumbersome external sensors.
The pinnacle of this journey arrived with Quest, the world’s first standalone VR headset, followed by Quest 2, which introduced intuitive hand-tracking technology. Technological advancements continued with features like Passthrough and Air Link, enabling wireless PC VR gaming on Quest devices.
Meta’s foray into mixed reality was marked by Quest Pro and Meta Quest 3, blurring the lines between virtual and physical worlds. Meanwhile, Portal, Meta’s smart home device, fostered new forms of connection through video calls and collaborations.
The intersection of smart glasses and AI emerged with Ray-Ban Stories and the subsequent Ray-Ban Meta collection, offering hands-free experiences enhanced by Meta AI functionalities. As AI continues to evolve, these glasses promise to become even smarter over time, with features like multimodal AI for real-time translation and recipe suggestions.
Behind these innovations lies relentless research by Reality Labs, pushing the boundaries of display systems, haptics, and contextualized AI. Looking ahead, Meta envisions a future where AR glasses seamlessly integrate virtual and physical realms, revolutionizing human-computer interaction.
Ultimately, Meta’s mission is to democratize technology, making breakthrough innovations accessible to all. With an open approach to collaboration and an eye on the future, Meta anticipates even more transformative developments in the next decade, ushering in a new era of connectivity and creativity.
