Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) is looking to bring the virtual reality experience to users’ devices, reports Wall Street Journal.
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But while a mobile app on its own would offer a less immersive experience than a headset, it would help expose a greater number of people to the technology and further establish Facebook’s presence in the virtual reality field.
The company is creating a standalone app for virtual reality 360-degree videos. allowing users to adjust their viewing perspective with the just bend of their phones.
Facebook has been focusing more on virtual reality ever since it bought Oculus Rift for $2 billion in 2014.
“I believe the app is intended for users without VR headsets, so this is very good news for the VR market”, KZero CEO Nic Mitham told us. We’re waiting to hear from Facebook about the tilt for VR app, but until then, we’re curious to see how Zuckerberg‘s plans pan out.
Oculus Rift handset which was launched as part of the 2012 Kickstarter project by the company is expected to start shipping the Ruft handset to consumers in the first quarter of 2016.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg first raised the possibility of adding 360-degree videos to Facebook’s newsfeed a few months ago. Visuals and audio will get better, and virtual worlds will seem real.
“If you look back at Facebook five years ago, most of the content that people shared was text”, Zuckerberg said at the event, according to Motherboard.
Spherical video is already being adopted for a number of purposes, in particular for tourism, sports and entertainment, Mitham said. While the Oculus will be developed for PCs and all the supported games for the platform, it is possible that Facebook manages to integrate a lighter version of the tech in its app.
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The video app would apparently be an extension of the virtual reality side of things, expanding the technology to an audience that may not yet be interested in VR. The giant search engine introduced a Cardboard viewer of virtual reality as a cheap device that can use almost any mobile handset.
