Google is working on a VR-optimized Android OS, says WSJ
The well-known tech company at Mountain View, California is known to be working on top-classified projects, including a self-driven car and advanced robotics technologies. But among these projects is an unexpectedly “secret” project that is set to conquer the VR world.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Google Inc is working on developing the ever-popular Android mobile operating system as a virtual reality-optimized version.
As the report states, a secret team made of “tens of engineers” together with an unidentified number of other staff are working together to make the existing Android OS into a software that is capable of rendering virtual reality content. This future version of Android is also open-source just like the original, and is expected to support a range of VR applications.
This shift in development focus of Google from its largely successful mobile devices and software to the world of virtual and augmented reality is something that tech analysts have never thought of becoming such a possibility. Google, with their wide range of mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and wearables, is working on a VR-optimized version of Android to run on these devices. The bold move by the tech company is reportedly due to the fact that it aims to become a serious competitor of the Oculus Rift, after the recent acquisition of Oculus VR by social media giant Facebook, added by the fact that Oculus VR has been involved in big-ticket projects in VR such as the in-house movie studio named Oculus Story Studio.
The report also states that the team secretly working on this software development is being led by the names of Clay Bavor, Google’s Vice President for Product Management; and Jeremy Doig, Director for Google Video Technology. It can be recalled that Bavor was partly involved in the development of the Google Cardboard, an inexpensive VR headset. In addition, this report by the Wall Street Journal indicates some sketchy yet key details to the overall final look of the Android for VR version, as well as its probable date of release to the public and its availability. Google has declined to comment on the report.
For more information on the development of Google in virtual reality, please visit the following websites:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/googles-android-to-take-on-facebook-in-virtual-reality-1425684553
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/6/8164543/google-is-reportedly-working-on-a-virtual-reality-version-of-android
http://thenextweb.com/google/2015/03/07/wsj-google-working-on-an-vr-version-of-android/
