When Google wanted people to know it was serious about virtual reality two years ago, it sent software developers attending its I/O conference home with Google Cardboard — a cheap, build-it-yourself VR headset that developers could use with Samsung Galaxy smartphones. If they owned one.
When Facebook wanted people to know it was serious about VR on Tuesday, it sent software developers attending its F8 conference — all 2,600 of them — home with Gear VR headsets, which retail at $99.99, and Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphones, which cost $598 apiece.
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement of the high-end swag was met with emphatic applause from the audience of developers, who packed an auditorium in San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center to hear him detail the company’s 10-year plan.
The Gear VR may not rival the coveted, high-end virtual reality headset released last month by Oculus VR, which Facebook acquired in 2014 for $2 billion. But it was enough to drive the message home: VR will play a big role in Facebook’s future — and so will developers who embrace the medium.
“I think virtual reality has the ability to be the most social platform, because you feel like you’re right there with that person,” Zuckerberg said.
Telling the audience that he expects virtual reality and augmented reality headsets to eventually shrink to the size and shape of a pair of reading glasses, he predicted that objects such as televisions and phones will one day be a thing of the past.
“When we get to this world, a lot of things we think about as physical objects will just be $1 apps in an AR app store,” he said.
Imagine, he said, instead of pulling out a phone to show someone a photo on a small screen, you could use augmented reality to pull an image out of thin air and enlarge it as much as you wanted.
“It’s going to take a long time to make this work,” he said, “but this is our vision.”
Other things in Zuckerberg’s vision included satellites, planes and drones that can bring Internet to the developing world. Those efforts continue even after regulators in India halted Facebook’s controversial Free Basics program in the country earlier this year.
In the shorter term, Zuckerberg outlined a significant push for artificial intelligence and chatbots — algorithms that understand language and can talk to users, answer questions and make suggestions.
With 900 million people using Facebook’s Messenger service every month, Zuckerberg announced that the company is opening up the Messenger platform to developers so they can build features such as customer service bots, which will let people bypass the need to get on the phone with customer support.
“You should be able to message a business like you message a friend,” Zuckerberg said.
If developers and users embrace Messenger’s bots as Facebook hopes they will, they might be able to bypass websites and other apps altogether. Developers will be able to program bots that can provide anything from automated subscriptions to content such as weather and traffic updates, article suggestions and summaries and shipping notifications, and even let people browse and shop for items through the Messenger app.
Instead of switching between apps and websites, everything could potentially be done inside Messenger.
Companies such as CNN, clothing and home retailer Spring, and 1-800-Flowers are among the first companies to have Messenger bots.
“I find this ironic,” Zuckerberg said, “because now, to order from 1-800-Flowers, you never have to call 1-800-Flowers again.”
Shopping for shoes will become as easy as sending a text on Facebook Messenger. The company also said that it would start allowing developers to build the ability to stream live video from any device, such as a drone.
“We actually give more people a voice. Instead of building walls, we can help people build bridges,” said Zuckerberg.
He said that Facebook’s 10-year road map focuses on the tech firm’s goal to “Give everyone the power to share anything with anyone.”
Founded in 2004 in a Harvard dorm room, Facebook has evolved beyond a social network where people catch up with their friends. It’s built a solar-powered drone to beam Internet access to developing countries, purchased a virtual reality company that released a new headset this year, encouraged more people to post live video, harnessed the power of artificial intelligence and more.
The company has changed the way people communicate with one another and now it wants to do the same for businesses too.
“We think you should be able to message a business the same way that you message a friend,” Zuckerberg said.
Powered by artificial intelligence, chatbots are computer software programs that mimic human conversations. Instead of opening an app and searching for a product or calling a phone number, a smartphone user could text a question to a brand’s chatbot through a messaging app allowing them to get flowers delivered, shop for shoes or get weather updates.
As messaging apps become popular, businesses are turning to them as a way to reach out to their customers. About 36 percent of smartphone owners use messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Kik or iMessage, according to a 2015 report by the Pew Research Center.
During last year’s developer conference, Facebook teamed up with a select number of US businesses such as online clothing retailer Everlane and e-commerce company Zulily so they could converse with their customers about products being shipped to their homes. Messenger, which has also been testing a new virtual assistant called M, has grown to more than 900 million monthly active users.
While chatbots aren’t new, they’re made their way into more messaging apps such as Tencent’s WeChat in China, and Slack and Kik. Last week, Kik launched an online store for chatbots that included Sephora, H&M, The Weather Channel, Vine and others.
But tech firms have also experienced some recent public blunders with chatbots. On March 23, Microsoft launched a chatbot called Tay on social media site Twitter but it was taken offline after it started tweeting racist and offensive remarks.
Facebook has also been making a stronger push into 360 degree video and live video, taking on Twitter’s Periscope. “People love going live because it’s so unfiltered and personal. You feel like you’re just there hanging out with your friends,” Zuckerberg said.
Facebook’s conference wrapped up Wednesday. — Los Angeles Times and San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, California)
SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME: Mark Zuckerberg has unveiled a new team at Facebook dedicated to creating social experiences in virtual reality.
