At the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in San Francisco, Mark Zuckerberg told the audience that Facebook is working on augmented reality (AR) technology but that it is “a bit further out” than the company’s virtual reality (VR) technology. Zuckerberg said he’s looking forward to VR technology giving his family the opportunity to experience his soon-to-be-born child’s first steps. “What Facebook is, is a way to give people a voice to share anything that they want in any form of medium with any audience they want,” Zuckerberg said. “Certainly this more immersive content will be an increasing portion of what gets shared.”
Facebook’s Michael Abrash painted a picture of a device that could provide both VR and AR capabilities. “It’s very interesting; it’s something we’d all use if it worked well,” he said. “It’s kind of seamless. Maybe it’ll be contacts [or glasses]. You’ll have something on and it’ll be VR and AR as you choose. But right now the VR tech is past the knee of the curve. For AR, it’s harder. There are a whole host of challenges — how you do the optics and displays and get photos onto the eyes, how you have something that’s socially acceptable and comfortable all day. I think VR is here now, I think AR will be here, but it’s a long road to get there.”
