After Facebook changed its name to META, Apple also quickly joined the battle, announcing that it would launch a VR headset in the near future. Microsoft already has a strong Hololens team, and the latest development, Google has also become a "late but arriving" new, foreign media for the first time exposed its secret projects, participating members must sign a confidentiality agreement, the content is mainly against the competition between META and Apple's AR devices.
Google Metaverse is late but develops new AR headset "Project Iris"
Google's layout of the metaverse is likely to start with the latest Project Iris project. According to the latest news, the project is extremely mysterious, and team members need special key cards to enter the R&D building, which other Google employees probably do not have. At the same time, Project Iris project members must sign a confidentiality agreement (NDA) with Google. Rumor has it that Google is developing a special operating system for augmented reality headsets, which could be called Augmented Reality OS.
META is similar to Apple's upcoming hardware product, the AR headset, which, according to Google insiders anonymously told The Verge, will use an outgoing camera to fuse computer graphics with real-world video. In their description, the effect will be more realistic than that of existing AR hardware products such as Snap and Magic Leap. In addition, respondents said the product looks similar to ski goggles, with a built-in battery unit and no need for a clumsy external power link.
This product will use a Google processor and will run on Android. But there are also rumors that Google is developing a special operating system for it. For example, in September 2021, the media Google9TO5 reported that Google is developing a new operating system Augmented Reality OS for possible future augmented reality helmet products.
In addition, Google plans to use its data centers to render images remotely and, over a network connection, transfer them to users' headsets. The Google Pixel team is also involved in some of the hardware design, but it is not certain whether the phone will be listed under the Pixel brand. At present, this product is still out of the early development stage and is expected to officially meet users in 2024. However, the current time has not been determined, and it may face an extension.
Google takes "Project Iris" very seriously
Project Iris is an extremely mysterious project inside Google, and team members need special key cards to enter the R&D building, which other Google employees probably don't have. At the same time, they must sign a confidentiality agreement with Google.
Although there is almost no external voice, the ambition of this team is actually not small, which can be seen from the team configuration of its per capita big cattle, and the core team responsible for helmet research and development has at least 300 employees. In addition, according to team insiders, the team will plan to recruit hundreds of people in the near future.
Project Iris is run by Clay Bavor, who currently reports directly to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. He was also the head of Project Starline, an ultra-high-resolution holographic video chat technology, a dazzling project at last year's Google conference. At the time, Project Starline was also labeled as the first move in Google's metaverse.
Simply put, with this technology, when a user and a remote person are "online" in conversation, you can see a realistic 3D portrait, as if a real person is communicating face to face. Testers who have tried the Starline project say it's one of the most impressive demonstrations of technology ever made.
This technology will also be used by Google in the field of remote conferencing. Google said that compared with the use of traditional video conferencing, the use of Starline will increase people's attention by about 15%. When asked about the conversation, the tester's memory improved by 30%.
According to The Verge, Google will likely launch the Starline and Project Iris projects together by 2024. Notably, the Starline project recently hired Paul Greco, chief technology officer of Silicon Valley Money Crusher Magic Leap, to join the team. His departure, accompanied by the departures of several other Magic Leap elders, namely founder Rony Abovitz, chief patent officer David Lundmark and chief operating officer Henk Viestra, almost made Magic Leap, a company that was once famous for its whale out of the water video, out of the silicon valley historical stage.
After the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. market and people began to work from home, Starline has become an important step strategy for Google. As Pichai's inner-company friend, Bavor, who joined Google's incubator AREA 120 in 2005, has "recorded" in the vr and AR directions, even dating back to Google's Cardboard and Daydream years ago. However, it is worth noting that most of these products have failed.
Google invites industry bulls to join "Project Iris"
In addition to Bavor, in this mysterious Iris project, there are many industry big names joining, such as Shahram Izadi, who is a senior director. According to his personal LinkedIn page, his previous co-founding of ProspectiveIO has been acquired by Google. Most of the company's early employees were from Microsoft.
Shahram Izadi's former job at Microsoft is also related to Hololens, and Mark Lucovsky, the general manager of operating systems who left Meta Oculus a few months ago, has also joined Google's Project Iris project. Eddie Chuang, who also manages Google's ARcore software toolkit, Scott Huffman, who used to oversee product development for Google Lens, and Kurt Akeley, founder and vice president of Google Assistant, are also currently working on project Project Iris.
In summary, Google has long been involved in the metaverse market, and has bet its own expectations against the Meta metacosm on the Project Iris project.