Facebook is Developing VR Apps

During yesterday’s installment of the ongoing Code/Media Re/code conference in California, Facebook’s Chief Product Officer Chris Cox announced that the social media network was developing virtual reality apps, no doubt for use with the Oculus Rift VR headset when that eventually makes its debut.

According to a post on Re/code, Cox sang virtual reality’s praises, and offered a few hints about how users might be able to interact with whatever software is in the pipeline:

“I mean, virtual reality is pretty cool. We’re working on apps for VR.

Have you used some of the film demos inside of VR? […] You realize, when you’re in it, that you’re looking at the future, and it’s going to be awesome. When you’re in Facebook, you’re just sending around these bits of experience – a photo, a video, a thought [… and with virtual reality, you’re] sending a fuller picture.”

When asked if that means that Facebook users will be able “to make virtual reality content,” Cox replied: “Totally. You’ll do it, Beyoncé will do it.”

As to when or how any of that will actually happen – well, that’s still a mystery. But the ways that Facebook will benefit from its $2 billion purchase of Oculus VR from nearly a year ago.

However, while we wait for the Oculus Rift to finally make its way onto our faces, let’s not forget that there’s a nice bit of Oculus tech available for purchase right now in the form of the Samsung Gear VR – a virtual reality headset designed to work with the Galaxy Note 4 (and, presumably, the forthcoming Galaxy S6). That device was borne of a collaboration between Samsung and Oculus, and represents the first retail-available product made by the company that isn’t a pre-release developer’s kit. So far, we haven’t heard much about the headset’s performance, but it seems like companies from LG to possibly even Apple are dipping their toes into the virtual waters to keep up. When Oculus finally lets us buy the consumer version of the Rift, expect Facebook to not only laugh all the way to the bank, but to send us all immersive, 360-degree virtual videos of that trip.

[Source: Re/code]