Meta Connect will take place on September 25-26, 2024, showcasing Meta’s latest digital solutions from its social media and XR portfolio. Historically, Connect has revealed deep insights into the firm’s XR roadmap.
Pundits should expect Meta to impress audiences during Connect 2024 and solidify its position as a leading XR vendor. While Meta seems to be preparing the Quest 3S for the 2024 holiday season, the company could also be getting ready to announce accompanying devices. Not all device announcements may come to market this year, but Meta enjoys showcasing the research its Reality Labs are conducting to create devices for the future.
Meta is quietly working on an AR device to complement its Quest 3S. Reports suggest that Meta will reveal details about the long-awaited Orion, an upcoming pair of AR smart glasses, at Connect 2024.
To discuss the latest Connect developments and how this can trickle down to enterprise, XR Today spoke with a panel of industry experts:
- Kevin ‘O Donovan, Co-Chair, Industrial Metaverse & Digital Twin Committee, VRARA
- Jay Latta, Founder and Speaker, The Fusionists
- Letitia Bochud, Director, Virtual Switzerland and Chair of the Board of Directors, XR4Europe
- Jennifer Rogers, Executive Officer, Learning Technology Standards Committee at the IEEE
Will Meta See Quest Enterprise Adoption Success?
While the Quest portfolio built a strong consumer user base with VR devices in years past, its MR headsets have not seen similar success, especially in the enterprise where the Quest Pro failed.
Meta needs to work on many things before its XR headset portfolio is business-ready; Latta notes that user data and transparency, such as outward-facing sensor data, are big issues in enterprise sectors.
Latta said:
One of the biggest issues that I have here is data and transparency. So, what exactly is happening with all of the sensors inside? What are the goals from Meta? All of these guys cook with the same water, so I’m curious, but I’m not expecting anything groundbreaking.
The Quest 3S is debuting as a cheaper and more lightweight MR product, and Bochud notes wearability and ergonomics are essential for headset vendors, especially in healthcare.
Moreover, the healthcare industry notably deals with incredible high-pressure and high-stakes spaces, which require streamlined and practical solutions that mitigate risk while respecting the vast amount of sensitive user data that goes through an XR device.
Bochud said:
The main focus would be on the wearing aspect, the ergonomy. For me, the number one priority now is to have something that doesn’t look as cluttered. Although it has already massively improved, we still, especially in therapeutics, need to have plug-and-play, easy-to-use, comfortable headsets.
On the other hand, in-the-field industrial headsets must work to comply with workspace considerations such as dust and light. Regarding the Meta Connect announcement, Rodgers noted, “I’m not sure that this announcement is going to solve any of those pieces, and of course, that’s a concern for all of us from the perspective of the industrial space.”
Rodgers explained:
I’m coming at this as I usually do from more of an industrial perspective: in the field environments, outside concerns around light, dust, and wearability, particularly with regards to additional PPE that people would have to be wearing.
‘O Donovan notes that continued iterations and device-selling software from firms like Meta will assist with general adoption curves in the enterprise and common consumers.
‘O Donovan said:
What I think is fascinating is that, given the current technology and the architecture, the headsets are the size they are. It’s either a trade-off if you want a greater field of vision, or you’re going to have a bigger headset because you need more power. The killer is getting more people to start using this stuff; the reality is getting it into more people’s hands—more common consumers. Then they return to the enterprise and say, “Why can’t we use something like this?”
Despite potential growth of interest in common consumer markets and, therefore, a trickle-down of enterprise adoption, O Donovan explained that adoption is not as simple as just putting on a device and walking out into “a wind farm, a substation, or an oil platform—that’s not going to happen. ” Understanding how the technology can provide a valuable use case is key.
Are Smart Glasses an Accessible Solution?
Reports indicate that Meta will unveil details about the long-awaited Orion, a forthcoming pair of AR smart glasses, at Connect 2024. Meta has slowly released this information to the public over the years, and it seems to be aiming for a significant impact during the same year as the Apple Vision Pro.
While the device is not as close to market as the Quest 3S, following the current Meta-proclaimed success with the Ray-Ban smart glasses portfolio, interest is high for Zuckerberg’s next AR device.
However, where do smart glasses fit into the enterprise space? O Donovan noted, “in industry, it’s not just about the technology and the art of the possible; it’s about how to integrate it into my existing workflow and systems.”
Rodgers also remarks that the question should not always focus on hardware but rather on how people can use and integrate hardware into workflows.
Rodgers explained:
We’ve become so enamoured with hardware that sometimes we disconnect from what we know about what people are looking to do and how technology can augment that experience, whether it’s a consumer or commercial application. Continuing to iterate upon the hardware, the form factor and all of those kinds of things will not necessarily get us to where we need to be from an adoption standpoint. Consumers are pretty sophisticated at this point regarding what they’re expecting from technology and how it actually improves their lives. Then, take that, in our cases, into the enterprise and say, “Can we figure out a way to make this happen?”
Latta agrees with Rodgers, noting how XR hardware must be human-centric, explaining that “It slowly starts to be understood, which means that with all of the technical capabilities that we have with this supercomputer, power is in your pocket.”
In closing on the future of smart glasses, Latta noted that technology needs to reach a point where it “can adapt to human needs, puts humans in the centre.”
