Meta has announced particularly important news for the AR and VR headset market. The tech giant led by Mark Zuckerberg has in fact decided to license its Horizon OS operating system to third-party companies, such as Lenovo and ASUS. To give a better idea, the path taken is just like that of Microsoft with Windows.
Meta Horizon OS is the Windows of AR/VR viewers
Horizon OS it’s the platform that Meta built for its Quest range of products and supports eye, face and hand tracking among other things. It also provides asocial experience which allows user avatars to move between virtual spaces on different devices. This is called Horizon (not to be confused with Horizon OS) and will probably be used by the Menlo Park company to monetize through advertising.
«The model does not always have to be like that of Apple smartphones (closed). In the PC era, the “open” model has prevailed: you can do many more things, you can install mods, have a vast choice of hardware, software and more available», explains Mark Zuckerberg in the video published on Instagram. «Our goal is for this open model to define the next generation of computing, with the metaverse, smart glasses and headsets».
Some details are still to be revealed, but based on what Meta has already shared, several companies are already working on devices you can will use Horizon OS. ASUS ROG is reportedly developing a high-performance gaming headset, while Lenovo is working on mixed reality devices for productivity, entertainment and learning. And speaking of video games, Meta has also announced that it is in development a limited release of the Quest in collaboration with Microsoft’s Xbox division.
Through the expansion of its operating system to third-party hardware manufacturers, Meta makes it easier for any developer to distribute VR software and, at the same time, makes its position in the growing AR/VR ecosystem even stronger (a market in which Apple has also recently entered with its Vision Pro).
Speaking of the Cupertino giant, Mark Zuckerberg declared that its platform is and will continue to be more open than Apple’s.