Google Vs. Facebook in Virtual Reality Domain; Is VR the Next Technology Game Changer?

Facebook Inc.'s purchase of Oculus VR has prompted Google to form a team of engineers to develop the Android Operating System for Virtual Reality platform, a Wall Street Journal report confirmed. Apparently, VR is touted as the next tech game changer, according to the internet giants. Facebook announced the acquisition of Oculus VR for $2 billion in March last year. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg told during the deal that VR could be the next big thing in tech space after mobile. "Strategically we want to start building the next major computing platform that will come after mobile," Zuckerberg said. Zuckerberg's idea has probably caught the imagination of Google's top brass as well, especially after the quick demos at the Oculus booth created a lot of buzz at the Game Developers Conference 2015. According to the WSJ report, the search giant wants to build a software platform anybody can use to produce and develop virtual reality apps.  The strategy is similar to that of the Android OS for mobiles that has made the OS by far the most popular, powering more than one billion devices. Business Insider informed that Clay Bavor, the VP of Product Management has enough experience of leading the Google Cardboard super-simple VR project alongside Director of Engineering Jeremy Doig. Although, the WSJ report did not specify the information, the two may be an integral part of the new project. While virtual reality is still a non-existent market, it has created quite a stir in tech circles recently. Although, gaming is the major focus area of the platform as of now, analysts believe that it has far-reaching potential in many fields, including entertainment, education, job training and health care. Meanwhile, a few other companies are also interested and involved in refining the VR technology, including Samsung, Sony, HTC, Nvidia and, of course, Microsoft. This implies that the competition is going to be fierce in the coming months. It is worth a mention here that Google funded in virtual reality startup Magic Leap last year. Facebook plans launching the first Oculus Rift consumer version in 2015 and Sony has postponed the Morpheus release to 2016. Google surely has some time to do the homework, but the virtual reality war is going to be real tough in reality.