Meta to open up its Meta Horizon OS to third-party producers

April 23, 2024 – Meta has this week introduced that it’s advancing its dedication to an open computing platform by opening up the ‘Meta Horizon OS’ working system powering its Meta Quest units to third-party {hardware} producers. The corporate said that the transfer will make it simpler for builders to construct apps and attain their audiences on its platform.

What’s Meta Horizon OS?

Meta Horizon OS is the combined actuality working system that powers Meta’s Quest line of headsets. The OS combines the core applied sciences powering Meta’s combined actuality experiences with a set of options that put social presence on the middle of the platform.

Developed over ten years, Meta Horizon OS options applied sciences equivalent to inside-out monitoring, eye and hand monitoring, and high-resolution Passthrough for an immersive combined actuality expertise. The working system is constructed on the Android Open Supply Venture.

What firms are constructing units on Meta Horizon OS?

Meta said in its announcement that main international expertise firms are already engaged on new units constructed on Meta Horizon OS. These embody:

ASUS’ Republic of Players will use its experience in gaming options to develop an all-new efficiency gaming headset. Commenting on this, S.Y. Hsu, Co-CEO at ASUS, stated: “We’ve been impressed by the unimaginable gaming group that has fashioned round digital and combined actuality, and we all know that essentially the most passionate players need high-performance {hardware}. With Meta Horizon OS, ASUS and Republic of Players will construct the gaming headset of the subsequent era.”

Lenovo, which already has expertise co-designing Oculus Rift S, can also be growing combined actuality units for productiveness, studying, and leisure, based on Meta. Yuanqing Yang, Chair & CEO at Lenovo, said: “Constructing from our previous profitable partnership, Lenovo is bringing collectively Meta Horizon OS with our management and innovation in private computing to speed up adoption of recent person situations in combined actuality like digital screens, distant presence, content material consumption, and immersive coaching.”

Xbox, which teamed up with Meta last year to carry Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) to Meta Quest, enabling Quest customers to play Xbox video games on a big 2D digital display in combined actuality. Now, the 2 firms are working collectively once more to create a limited-edition Meta Quest, impressed by Xbox.

Meta famous that all the units being constructed by the above firms will profit from Qualcomm Applied sciences’ Snapdragon processors, that are tightly built-in with Meta’s software program and {hardware} stacks, the most recent of which being the XR2 Gen 2 Platform that launched with the Quest 3.

Does this imply a extra open app ecosystem from Meta?

Meta additionally introduced that it’s taking steps to reinforce its app ecosystem by decreasing obstacles between the Meta Horizon Retailer and App Lab, permitting builders simpler entry to market their software program. App Lab titles will quickly be featured in a devoted part of the Retailer on all Meta’s units, making them extra discoverable to bigger audiences and simpler for builders to shortly ship their titles on Meta’s platform.

Moreover, a brand new spatial app framework from Meta is in improvement to help cellular builders in transitioning their functions to combined actuality environments.

Will the way forward for combined actuality be an open one?

With this announcement, Meta is positioning itself as a proponent of a extra inclusive and collaborative combined actuality setting. The corporate famous that each shoppers and builders are those who stand to profit essentially the most from an ecosystem the place a number of {hardware} makers construct on a standard platform.

Meta’s strategy stands in distinction to Apple’s technique, which historically emphasizes a closed ecosystem with tightly managed {hardware} and software program integration, as is at present the case with the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional. Because the combined actuality market evolves, an open platform like Meta’s may very well be the important thing to driving sooner innovation and adoption throughout the spatial computing area.

Picture credit score: Meta