In Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality News
October 28, 2021 – Today at Connect 2021, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Facebook will now be known as ‘Meta’, which will bring together the company’s apps and technologies under one new company brand. Meta’s focus will be “to bring the metaverse to life and help people connect, find communities and grow businesses.”
This might be seen by some as a bit of a cunning move and it could be argued that this would be like if a company such as AOL had changed its name to ‘Inter’ in the early days of the internet. Now, anyone who does not yet know what the metaverse is, could potentially assume that it is something to do with Facebook/Meta purely by the close association to the name – i.e. “the universe belonging to Meta” perhaps.
Still, despite now having 50% of the word as its new name, according to Meta, the metaverse will not be created by one company, but will instead be will be built by creators and developers. Again, to clarify, the idea of the metaverse is that of an open and free ecosystem not owned by any one company, just as the internet is. The metaverse will feel like a hybrid of today’s online social experiences, sometimes expanded into three dimensions or projected into the physical world. In the metaverse, users will be able to share immersive experiences with other people even whilst not physically together.
The Connect conference held today covered Meta’s augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) ambitions and explored what experiences in the metaverse could feel like over the next decade — from social connection, to entertainment, gaming, fitness, work, education and commerce. Meta also announced new tools to help creators build for the metaverse, including Presence Platform, which will enable new mixed reality experiences on Quest 2, and a USD $150-million investment in immersive learning to train the next generation of creators.
Meta noted that its corporate structure is not changing, however, how it reports on its financials will. Starting with the company’s results for the fourth quarter of 2021, Meta plans to report on two operating segments: Family of Apps, and Reality Labs. The company also intends to start trading under the new stock ticker “MVRS” on December 1, 2021. Meta also clarified that today’s announcement does not affect how it uses or shares data.
Image credit: Meta
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About the author
Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.