On Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the name change (October 28). “Today we are recognized as a social media company, but in our DNA we are a company that produces technology to link people, and the metaverse is the next frontier, just like social networking was when we started,” Zuckerberg said in announcing the Facebook new name Metaverse.
Meta Platforms Inc. is the new name for Facebook Inc., the parent company of the eponymous program, as well as Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and the virtual reality business Oculus. The moniker is intended to convey the tech giant’s desire to be renowned for anything other than social networking and all of its drawbacks. The revamped Facebook app would most likely be presented as one of many products handled by a parent company that also manages Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and other businesses.
The change in Facebook’s name has sparked a lot of speculation about whether or not the social networking app will alter for users. No, that is not the case. Before Zuckerberg declared Meta, Facebook would remain the same for its users. There will be no modifications to the app’s functionality.
There are no new features or layouts planned, and the usage rules will stay the same. Similarly, the name change will have no impact on Facebook’s other programs, such as WhatsApp and Instagram. They will be devoid of any “meta” content. “Neither our applications nor their branding is changing.” “We’re still the firm that builds technology with humans in mind,” added Zuckerberg.
The metaverse does not, at least not yet, exist. The concept was popularised by Neal Stephenson’s 1992 novel Snow Crash, which included a permanent virtual reality environment that the protagonist traveled. Other science fiction novels, films, and television programs, like The Matrix, Ready Player One, and Stranger Things, explore the notion of “mirror worlds,” in which everything in the physical world has a digital equivalent. You can go to school, work, play games, watch concerts, peruse shop shelves, and so much more in the metaverse without ever leaving your house.
Consider the metaverse to be three-dimensional and multi-sensory, including touch, if the internet is two-dimensional—text and images on flat screens. There are now various online locations that resemble the metaverse, such as the hand-drawn Topia and the virtual reality portal AltspaceVR. Fortnite and Roblox, among other massively multiplayer games, are arguably the most metaverse-ready. Users may currently attend live events, interact with friends’ avatars, purchase virtual goods, and even shop at well-known companies in these worlds. None, though, come close to matching Facebook’s alternate digital realm.
In 2004, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and four Harvard College roommates launched Meta Inc. (FB), the business that runs Facebook, the world’s largest social networking website. FaceMash was the company’s original name, which was changed to TheFacebook before eliminating “The” to become Facebook, which was then changed to Meta in October 2021. The service was first established for Zuckerberg and his co-founders’ Harvard classmates, but it soon expanded to other campuses and subsequently to the general public.
Since then, the company has grown into a global giant with 2.8 billion users and a $926.8 billion market value. The corporation earned a net income of $29.1 billion in FY 2020 on sales of $84.1 billion, with advertising accounting for virtually all of it. Since its inception 16 years ago, Meta has grown well beyond its core social networking platform. Messenger services, picture, and video sharing augmented reality, and a variety of other applications and services are among its offerings.
Let’s take a closer look at Meta’s five most significant acquisitions below.
Instagram is a social media platform for sharing photos and videos that were created in 2010. Users may post, edit, and tag photographs and videos using the Instagram app. The firm remained independent until it was bought out by Meta in 2012 for $1.0 billion. While Meta purchased Instagram, the photo-sharing service was attracting a lot of interest from venture capitalists and other investors.
According to some estimations, Instagram makes more money from advertising than its parent business. When Meta bought Instagram, it decided to develop and grow the app separately from Meta’s main Facebook platform; Instagram is still a distinct platform today. Meta’s willingness to pay a premium for new firms is seen in the sum he paid for Instagram, which had no income at the time.
WhatsApp is a messaging and calling app that is available to users all over the world. In 2009, the platform was introduced as a low-cost alternative to traditional text messaging services. WhatsApp has enabled users to exchange messages and make calls to other WhatsApp users for free, regardless of their location, for much of its history. The application also allows users to transmit photographs, videos, and documents.
Meta purchased WhatsApp at a time when the smaller firm had more than 400 million monthly active users, making it a fast-growing prospective competitor to Facebook’s social media platform. When Meta bought WhatsApp, it was a standalone firm with a recent valuation of $1.5 billion. 10 Although the actual amount of income generated by WhatsApp is unknown, some estimates suggest that revenue might reach $5 billion by 2020.
Meta bought virtual reality gear and software startup Oculus VR only weeks after announcing its acquisition of WhatsApp. This firm was created in 2012 and is most known for its virtual reality headgear, the Oculus Rift, which was built specifically for video games. Since Facebook bought Oculus VR in 2014, the company has made a number of acquisitions.
The purchase of Surreal Vision, a business that specializes in 3D scene mapping reconstruction, in 2015 was maybe the most notable. Oculus VR had only built a development version of what would become its popular headgear product when Meta purchased it. Meta’s acquisition of Oculus VR offered them an immediate foothold in the virtual reality industry at a time when developers’ interest in the technology was booming.
Onavo is an Israeli firm that does web analytics on other mobile applications to evaluate client usage. It was founded in 2010. In October 2013, Meta purchased Onavo for an undisclosed sum believed by some experts to be between $100 million and $200 million. Onavo was a stand-alone corporation at the time of the purchase. Although Onavo was not one of Meta’s larger acquisitions, its technology may have enabled Meta to make critical early decisions about which additional firms and applications to purchase. Onavo has been classed as spyware on a few occasions, causing Meta to remove the software from both the iOS and Android app stores in the face of backlash.
Beluga, a messaging software service created in 2010, was bought by Meta a year later. Beluga was purchased by Meta for an unknown value during the startup’s funding process. Facebook acquired the technology that would later become the hugely popular Messenger platform when it purchased Beluga. Meta was able to extend its products while also eliminating a possible competitor.
Facebook Technologies, LLC’s Oculus business makes virtual reality headsets such as the Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest. Oculus products have been more integrated with Facebook social networking platforms since becoming part of the Facebook family. All new users, as well as users of Facebook-produced VR devices, launched since then (beginning with Oculus Quest 2), will be required to check in with a Facebook account starting in October 2020. In January 2023, support for solo Oculus accounts will be phased down. Due to worries about digital privacy and Facebook’s real-name policy, this rule has been met with opposition.
Facebook, Inc. said in October 2021 that it will change its corporate name to Meta and phase out the Oculus brand name in 2022. Future VR gear from the business is anticipated to be branded “Meta” rather than “Oculus,” with “Horizon” being used for Meta’s immersive social experiences (including those previously operated under the Oculus brand).
Zuckerberg explained how the company’s virtual reality technology may help people exercise at home. “I know a lot of you already use Quest to remain in shape. It allows you to exercise in whole new ways. It’s similar to a Peloton, but instead of riding a bike, you use your VR headset to perform everything from boxing classes to sword fighting to dance.” I believe we’ll see a lot more innovative fitness experiences that make use of full immersion and interactive training,” he said.
This news indicates that Facebook is still looking into the fitness industry. It’s not the first time FANNG has done so. Apple’s watches, for example, have a long history of recording fitness indicators, with the ECG monitoring function earning a De Novo award in 2018. Fitness+, a subscription-based platform for at-home workouts that can be linked to the Apple Watch, was also released by Apple. Amazon, pitching itself as a competitor to Apple, said in September that it was expanding its Halo fitness-tracking line with a new wearable, the Halo View, and gym courses. Meanwhile, Fitbit, a fitness-focused gadget, has been bought by Google.
At Connect 2021, Mark Zuckerberg described the metaverse as the successor to the mobile internet, a collection of interconnected digital settings that lets you do things you can’t do in the real world. Importantly, it will be defined by social presence, or the sensation of being right there with another person, regardless of where you are in the globe. In keeping with that ambition, he also announced the launch of Meta, a new business brand that better reflects our future emphasis. This is an exciting new phase for the organization, and we’re looking forward to contributing to the realization of the metaverse.
The metaverse is still a long way off, but pieces of it are already here – and more are on the way. The firm provided a peek at what they are doing to better virtual and augmented reality as we know it now, as well as the efforts the company is taking to help achieve the full social potential of the metaverse in the future, during the event’s keynote.
Horizon Home, the early idea for a metaverse home base, was unveiled. When you put on your Quest headset, this is the first thing you see. Because the experience was not social, it was simply termed Home until now. Soon, you’ll be able to invite your friends to Horizon Home, where you can hang out, watch videos, and play games and apps with them. Horizon Home is the most recent addition to Horizon, the company’s social platform that allows users to create and connect in the metaverse. Horizon Worlds, which is now in beta, and Horizon Workrooms, the company’s main productivity solution, are the company’s other offerings. Venues have now joined the party as Horizon Venues. Horizon Venues is your all-access pass to concerts, sports, and other live events, allowing you to enjoy the thrills of live events from the convenience of your own home.
Messenger functionality for VR was introduced earlier this year, allowing users to send a brief message to pals from within the headset. However, why type when you can speak? It will introduce Messenger audio calls to VR later this year. From any Messenger-enabled device, you’ll be able to join an audio call with pals and ultimately hang out or go to VR destinations together.
Gaming will undoubtedly be as popular in the metaverse as it is today, from AR chess with old friends to fierce bouts with new ones. Beat Saber just achieved $100 million USD in gross lifetime sales on the Quest Platform alone, according to the Connect Keynote, and promised some interesting new upgrades for the coming months. It was revealed that Quest 2 would feature the Rockstar Games classic Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. As you encounter (again or for the first time) one of gaming’s most renowned open spaces, you’ll acquire a new perspective on Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas. In addition, the firm revealed a number of new titles and upgrades, including a five-title partnership with Vertigo Games and new VR battle royale events.
Many of you are using virtual reality to augment or even replace your traditional gym regimen these days, and the firm wants to make your Quest 2 the finest piece of gym equipment it can be. It will release a new set of accessories, the Active Pack for Quest 2, next year. The Active Pack includes redesigned grips for the Touch controllers that will help you stay in control as you sweat, as well as an exercise-optimized facial interface that will make wiping things down simpler afterward, so you can keep reaching your Oculus Move objectives for years to come.
Presence Platform is a set of machine perception and AI capabilities — including Passthrough, Spatial Anchors, and Scene Understanding — that will allow developers to create more realistic mixed reality, interaction, and voice experiences that seamlessly blend virtual content with a user’s physical world. Metaverse launched Interaction SDK as part of Presence Platform, which makes it easy for developers to integrate high-quality hand interactions to their apps by offering a library of common motions. We’ve also added Voice SDK for those occasions when speaking is the most natural way to submit data.
Work, leisure, and everything in between will someday be part of the metaverse. Their platform, like today’s phones and laptops, must be adaptable enough to suit all of these varied use cases. It will soon begin testing Quest for Business, a new set of capabilities aimed at enterprises but running on the same Quest 2 headset that you can buy right now. Quest for Business will allow you to log into your Quest 2 headset using a Work Account, a new business-only login that will allow you to communicate with coworkers and utilize productivity tools like Horizon Workrooms and Gravity Sketch without having to use your personal Facebook account.
Account management, IDP and SSO integration, third-party mobile device management, and other business-critical platform functionalities will be available through Quest for Business. They want to debut in restricted beta this year, extend to additional test participants in 2022, then launch to all enterprises in 2023.
It also makes moving your work from your display to Quest 2 and back more easily. Slack, Dropbox, Facebook, Instagram, and a slew of other services will soon be available as 2D panel applications in Horizon Home, and you’ll be able to download them through the Quest Store. This new feature allows you to communicate with coworkers, read files, update your social media feeds, and more without having to remove your headset. In Horizon Home, it also launched Studio, a new personal working environment. Later this year, Horizon Workrooms will feature customizable rooms, allowing you to pick from a range of various workspaces and customize your rooms with your own corporate logos or team posters.
In October 2020, Facebook unveiled a wide new cloud gaming plan targeted at disrupting the wealthy and rapidly developing mobile games market. While other digital behemoths such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Nvidia have focused their cloud gaming efforts on big-budget “AAA” titles, Facebook strived to transform the world of casual free-to-play games by using new data centers and its global user base.
Facebook allows users to establish an alternate “Player Name” as part of the new gaming project. While Facebook has previously permitted pseudonyms in some circumstances, the corporation has always emphasized the value of real-name identities across all of its services. For the first time, Facebook looks to be embracing customizable alternate identities with Player Names. The new cloud service’s primary purpose is to allow users to play full-featured mobile games within Facebook without having to download them from an app store. In addition to instant gameplay, there is also instant marketing: A Facebook ad for a video game may now allow people to play the game directly.
For the first time since the FarmVille heyday a decade ago, the news appears to be aimed at repositioning Facebook as a significant mass-market gaming platform. When Facebook made the switch to a mobile-first approach, games were mainly abandoned. Despite this, it is widely assumed that mobile gaming accounts for at least half of the $160 billion worldwide video game business. Facebook paid $80 million to acquire the Spanish cloud gaming business PlayGiga, but the details of Facebook’s entire cloud gaming strategy have remained a mystery until recently.
Although neither business will remark on a vendor agreement, Facebook looks to be basing its new cloud gaming data centers around Nvidia graphics equipment. The service will be accessible in various Western, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeastern portions of the United States as Facebook builds its cloud gaming-ready data centers. 2K Games, FunPlus, Gameloft, Glu Mobile, Gram Games, Rovio, and Wildlife Studios are among the first firms to advertise on the site.
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