Meta recaps the progress in 2021 and shares plans for 2022

2021 marked a landmark year for Meta with the rebranding and a prominent foray into metaverse; the company shares their current progress and updates on the further development planned for 2022 at Meta and Reality Labs.

Andrew Bosworth, Head - Facebook Reality Labs, shares that with the launch of Horizon Workrooms and Horizon Worlds that initiated the launch into the metaverse, and two hardware rollouts with Ray-Ban Stories and Portal Go, Meta has made substantial progress this year laying the foundation for expansion in 2022.

Metaverse

Bosworth mentions the company has been laying foundational elements to build a fully functional metaverse, an objective that would be supported by a five-to-ten year vision.

Realistic avatars, spatial audio, ultra-low friction input for AR glasses, and social VR experiences would be further supported by enterprise-grade support, infra, and security. The developer community would also play a critical role in building these mixed reality experiences bolstered by AI.

Also Read: Meta simplifies campaign objectives with new ad experience

Business Solutions

Remote operations have been supported by collaborative tools throughout the pandemic, this has also led to the increased usage of Meta products such as Workplace and Portal. A part of the strategy going into developing the metaverse also includes developing solutions for businesses.

Portal for Business and Quest for Business, both would be expanded next year. To enable interoperability, as initially, users would access it through PCs or mobiles, Portal and Workplace would support a fully functional metaverse.

Hands-Free Products

Bosworth believes "the future is hands-free", and several products designed with 'hand-held' limitations would be advanced with newer technologies such as Ray-Ban Stories, and the latest feature hands-free calling and messaging with Messenger, and the option to adjust volume with a voice command.