Is Facebooks VR remote work app a step to the metaverse

Reuters -Facebook Inc on Thursday launched a test of a new virtual-reality remote work app where users of the companys Oculus Quest 2 headsets can hold meetings as avatar versions of themselvesThe beta test of Facebooks Horizon Workrooms app comes as many companies continue to work from home after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down physical workspaces and as a new variant is sweeping across the globeFacebook sees its latest launch as an early step toward building the futuristic metaverse that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has touted in recent weeksThe worlds largest social network has invested heavily in virtual and augmented reality developing hardware such as its Oculus VR headsets working on AR glasses and wristband technologies and buying a bevy of VR gaming studios including BigBox VRGaining dominance in this space which Facebook bets will be the next big computing platform will allow it to be less reliant in the future on other hardware makers such as Apple Inc the company has saidFacebooks vice president of its Reality Labs group Andrew Boz Bosworth said the new Workrooms app gives a good sense of how the company envisions elements of the metaverseThis is kind of one of those foundational steps in that direction Bosworth told reporters during a VR news conferenceThe term metaverse coined in the 1992 dystopian novel Snow Crash is used to describe immersive shared spaces accessed across different platforms where the physical and digital converge Zuckerberg has described it as an embodied internetIt has been referenced in several recent earnings calls by tech CEOs including Zuckerberg Microsoft Corps Satya Nadella gaming company Roblox Corps David Baszucki and Match Group Incs Shar Dubey who have talked about how their companies could shape aspects of this futuristic realmIn July Facebook said it was creating a product team to work on the metaverse which would be part of its AR and VR group Facebook Reality LabsIn its first full VR news briefing the company showed how Workrooms users can design avatar versions of themselves to meet in virtual reality conference rooms and collaborate on shared whiteboards or documents still interacting with their own physical desk and computer keyboard The app free through the Quest 2 headsets which cost about 300 allows up to 16 people together in VR and up to 50 total including video conference participants Bosworth said Facebook was now using Workrooms regularly for internal meetingsFacebooks test of its new Horizon Workrooms remote-working app for its virtual reality Oculus Quest 2 headsets is shown in this handout image obtained by Reuters on August 18 2021 FacebookHandout via REUTERSThe company said it would not use peoples work conversations and materials in Workrooms to target ads on Facebook It also said users must follow its VR community standards and that rule-breaking behavior can be reported to OculusFacebook recently halted sales of its Oculus Quest 2 headsets and recalled the foam face-liners due to reports of skin irritation in cooperation with the US Consumer Product Safety CommissionThe recall notice said it affected about 4 million units in the United States providing an estimate of Quest 2 headset sales which have not yet been officially announced by the company Facebook reported non-advertising revenue which comes from the AR and VR part of the business as well as e-commerce of 497 million in the second quarter of 2021Reporting by Elizabeth Culliford in LondonEditing by Kenneth Li and Matthew LewisRelated article Is the Metaverse the next internet Big names are beginning to think so