Meta vs Google: The Battle for XR Dominance
Meta has set its sights on becoming “the Android of XR,” but it faces stiff competition from Google’s Android XR.
While Meta excels in immersive gaming, the key to dominating the XR landscape may lie in the realm of flat apps. Platforms like Spotify, TikTok, Snapchat, and Discord have shown the value of merging XR experiences with familiar apps. Vision Pro and Android XR both support existing apps, offering a seamless transition into the XR world.
Meta’s Horizon OS boasts the largest and best library of immersive apps, while Google’s Android XR leads in flat apps. To truly dominate XR, both platforms need to bridge the gap and incorporate each other’s strengths.
However, Meta may face a tougher challenge in attracting flat apps to Horizon OS. Immersive app developers are eager for growth, making Android XR a more appealing option for expansion. Without a strong lineup of flat apps, Meta risks pigeonholing its headsets as gaming consoles rather than versatile computing devices.
Despite potentially superior hardware, Meta’s lack of core flat apps could hinder its XR ambitions. The company’s decade-long journey into XR was driven by a desire to control the next computing platform before competitors like Apple and Google could seize control.
While some may argue that flat apps are not essential to the XR experience, the presence of both flat and immersive apps on a platform could be the deciding factor in its success. Meta must find a way to attract key flat apps to Horizon OS to avoid being overshadowed by Android XR.
This dilemma poses an existential risk to Meta’s XR aspirations, with no clear solution in sight.
