L-R: Martin Schulz, Mark Zuckerberg and Mathias Doepfner attended the presentation of the first Axel Springer Award on February 25, 2016 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo : Getty Images/Frank Zauritz - Pool)
At Facebook's F8 2016 conference on April 12, Tuesday, Facebook wanted to show it was serious about virtual reality and gave its 2,600 attending software developers Gear VR headsets and Samsung Galaxy S6 phones which cost $99.99 and $598 per piece. Two years ago, Google also distributed its build-it-yourself VR headset, Cardboard to its software developers which they can use with Samsung Galaxy phones, if they had one.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg received an emphatic applause from the audience who packed the auditorium in San Francisco's Fort Mason Center when he announced the freebies. Though the Gear VR may not compete with Oculus VR headset released by Facebook last month, it was enough for the company to convey the message that VR will be a big part of the company's future, and that the developers should embrace it, the LA Times reported.
"I think virtual reality has the ability to be the most social platform, because you feel like you're right there with that person," Zuckerberg said during his keynote at the Facebook F8 2016 conference. The Facebook executive said he expects both virtual reality and augmented reality to become like reading glasses and that smartphones and TVs will be just things of the past.
Zuckerberg shared his vision to the audience. With AR, one can just pull out an image from thin air and expand it as much as he wants, instead of pulling out a phone to show a picture to someone. "It's going to take a long time to make this world, but this is our vision." He said.
Included in the executive's vision are planes, drones and satellites that would bring Internet to the developing world. He is still on the concept despite India's resistance to the social network's Free Basics program earlier.
Zuckerberg likewise shared the company's short-term vision. He outlined artificial intelligence and chatbots, programs that understand language and can give suggestions. Chatbots are said to be included in FB's Messenger so that they can build customer service bots.
On the second day of Facebook F8 2016, the company revealed "Surround 360," a VR camera that can shoot in 4k, 6k and 8k. It dumps the 30-GB per second data to a hard drive over USB, TechCrunch said.
CNET's video below has Zuckerberg's keynote during the F8 2016:
