Metaconnect, A major developer event and hardware showcase from the company that runs Facebook and Instagram kicks off today, where Meta is set to show off new VR and mixed reality tech, hone its metaverse ambitions and detail the novel ways it plans to cram artificial intelligence into every crevice of its devices and services.
The event will be held today, Wednesday, September 25th, at 10:00 AM Pacific Time. Most of the new features will be announced during the keynote, which will be livestreamed. The event will be hosted by Meta CEO and recent high-profile figure Mark Zuckerberg. After Zuckerberg’s hour-long presentation, a developer talk will be held at 11:00 AM by Meta CTO and head of Reality Labs Andrew Bosworth. The event can be viewed on the Meta Connect website or on Meta’s YouTube channel. And of course, in VR on Meta Horizon.
The focus of the event will likely be the marriage of Meta’s mixed reality efforts with its AI ambitions across its product line. As with any tech event, there are sure to be some surprises. Here are some big takeaways to look out for:
Blurred Metavision
What Meta is unlikely to announce is a very expensive VR headset, a move that would be a good idea given the current state of the mixed reality device market and whether people are actually willing to shell out the big bucks for one. Instead, rumors are circulating about a headset called the Meta Quest 3S, which is a lower-cost, lighter-feature version of the Meta Quest 3.
Meta briefly became a big player in the AR/VR space a decade ago when it acquired VR company Oculus, then Facebook. Shortly thereafter, Facebook renamed itself Meta and poured $45 billion into a vision of a digital universe that few people are particularly interested in. Meta’s Horizon Workrooms aren’t widely used in the workplace (we still use Zoom), and users aren’t all that keen to move into the Metaverse, even as the company’s expensive land grab for digital real estate has begun.
Other companies are also struggling to make a virtual stand. Apple released its first mixed-reality headset, the $3,500 Apple Vision Pro, in February. Since then, the product has been seen as a rare misstep for the company, or at least a first-generation product that wasn’t obviously aimed at the masses. The device didn’t sell well, and it was widely criticized as being expensive, heavy and ultimately a lonely experience. (Apple only mentioned the Vision Pro once, briefly, during its optimistic iPhone launch event on September 9.)
If the vision for Vision Pro had worked out, Meta may have been more inclined to pursue the expensive premium category of VR headsets. In August, The Information reported that Meta appeared to have abandoned, or at least postponed, plans to launch an update to the Oculus Quest Pro that would have rivaled Apple’s Vision Pro. Meta CTO Bosworth responded to the news on Meta’s Threads platform, arguing that the move wasn’t that big of a deal, but rather a natural part of the company’s device iterations. Still, it’s a logical move after the failure of Apple Vision Pro.
