According to multiple reports all tracing back to The Wall Street Journal, Google is developing an Android-based operating system that can be installed on future virtual reality (VR) headsets. Perhaps this is to compete with Facebook’s $2 billion dollar purchase of the Oculus Rift, in which they lost their lead electrical engineer of Google Glass, Adrian Wong, to Facebook’s Oculus Rift.

Of course, there is no image available for the operating system just yet, so the thumbnail image for this article is currently an image of the Gear VR interface.

This will be another operating system Google can add to their current list of Android-based operating systems, which include Android for smartphones, watches, TVs, and cars. Of course, there have been small hints and related stories of this in the past.

Firstly, Google has already made a $542 million investment in Magic Leap, a new Florida-based company which envisions merging the technological and digital world with the biological human world, stating “we are humans after all, not machines.” Secondly, Google has recently partnered with Mattel to create live 3D simulations in the real world while wearing the View Master product. Thirdly, The Wall Street Journal also reported that Google has another team currently testing a tablet which has multiple cameras in order to project augmented reality into the real world, similar to Microsoft’s Halo Lens as discussed in their Windows 10 live event last January. And don’t forget, Google Cardboard.

So what is Google planning here? Well, they’re not creating a virtual reality headset, but instead, creating the operating system for it, similar to how they license their operating systems to be run on other devices. This is what Google is reportedly planning with their Android-based operating system for future VR headsets.

Source

– http://www.wsj.com/articles/googles-android-to-take-on-facebook-in-virtual-reality-1425684553