Google’s Metaverse Ambitions

The Metaverse has received a lot of attention in 2021, and some people believe that the Metaverse will bring about the next technological revolution. Large companies such as the internationally renowned social giant Meta regard the Metaverse as the company's next growth point, and the chip design giant Nvidia hopes to become the infrastructure provider of Metaverse technology. Domestic companies also have different degrees of layout in the field of Metaverse. For example, the three major telecom operators all hope to provide infrastructure for the Metaverse in the field of communications. Today, let's take a look at Google's layout in the field of Metaverse.

Establish a secret project to develop virtual reality equipment

On January 20, 2022, the well-known foreign technology media "The Verge" published an article titled "GOOGLE IS BUILDING AN AR HEADSET", reporting that Google recently started a mysterious project called Iris. According to the description of "The Verge", this project is likely to develop an AR helmet.

Article "GOOGLE IS BUILDING AN AR HEADSET"

Source: The Verge

This project is extremely secretive, and its R&D building is not accessible to all Google employees, but requires special verification. The Verge found that all participants in the Iris project must sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with the company. It is rumored that the Iris project has more than 300 people, and many of them are technical experts. According to insiders, the team plans to recruit hundreds of people in the near future.

If this is true, then this will be another bold attempt by Google after repeated failures in hardware research and development, especially in augmented and virtual reality products (it had previously launched AR glasses but suffered a disastrous defeat).

According to an anonymous Google insider who revealed to The Verge, this AR helmet will use an outward-facing camera to merge computer graphics with real-world video, and the effect will be more realistic than existing AR hardware products such as Snap and Magic Leap. This product looks similar to ski goggles, with a built-in battery device and does not require a clumsy external power connection. This product will use a Google processor and can run on Android.

As for the operating system, another technology media "Google9TO5" revealed that Google is developing a new operating system, Augmented Reality OS, for augmented reality helmet products that may be developed in the future. Now that Google's Android system has a place in the field of smartphones, it is very likely that Google will also occupy a place in the field of augmented reality operating systems in the future.

The Verge article stated that Google plans to use its data centers to remotely render images and transmit them to the user's headset through a network connection. As for the release time, The Verge predicts that the device is expected to officially meet users in 2024.

The Iris project will be under the Google Labs umbrella. Founded in 2006, Google Labs has launched a number of services that are now widely used, including Google Maps, Gmail, Google Trends, Google Docs, etc. However, in 2011, Google Labs announced the end of operations and was replaced by Google X, which focuses on more promising development projects.

The Iris project is led by Clay Bavor, who has been in charge of VR-related projects at Google since 2015. He currently reports directly to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. In addition, he is also the head of Google's ultra-high-resolution holographic video chat technology Project Starline.

In addition to Clay Bavor, many industry experts have joined the Iris project, such as Shahram Izadi, who serves as senior director. PerspectiveIO, which he co-founded, has been acquired by Google, and the company has participated in the development of Microsoft's VR/AR device Hololens. In addition, Mark Lucovsky, the general manager of operating systems who previously left Meta Oculus, has also joined Google's Iris project. Eddie Chuang, who once managed Google's ARcore software toolkit, Scott Huffman, who was responsible for product development for Google Lens, and Kurt Akeley, founder and vice president of Google Assistant, are also currently serving the Iris project.

It can be said that the Iris project has gathered many industry leaders. Google is investing heavily in the Iris project, hoping to gain a foothold in the metaverse display devices.

The Iris project marks Google's return to the hardware category. Google released Google Glass in 2012, which attracted a lot of attention at the time. In 2012, Microsoft had not yet launched Hololens, and Oculus was still a startup company that had just been founded in Southern California and had nothing to do with Meta. However, the market's coldness forced Google to quietly launch the market. Since then, Google has chosen to focus on software functions such as visual search engines and AR directions in Google Maps. The news of the Iris project means that Google hopes to continue to exert its strength in the hardware field.

Google develops innovative video communication technology

Project Starline is an experimental video communication method developed by Google that allows users to view a 3D model of the person they are communicating with. Google announced the product at its 2021 I/O developer conference, saying it will allow users to talk, gesture, and make eye contact naturally by leveraging machine learning, spatial audio, computer vision, and real-time compression. Users can get the 3D effect without wearing typical virtual reality goggles. The goal is to make users feel as if they are in the same room with other users. So at the time, Project Starline was also labeled as the first step in Google's metaverse. After experiencing Starline, someone said it was one of the most impressive technology demonstrations ever.

This technology will also be used by Google in the field of remote meetings. Google said that using Starline will improve people's attention by about 15% compared to using traditional video conferencing. When asked about the content of the conversation, the testers' memory increased by 30%.

The Starline project recently hired Paul Greco, the chief technology officer of Magic Leap, an American VR/AR device manufacturer that Alibaba had previously invested in, to join the team. In addition to Paul Greco, several other Magic Leap veterans, founder Rony Abovitz, chief patent officer David Lundmark, and COO Henk Viestra have also joined Google's project.

With the outbreak of the epidemic, the global demand for virtual meetings and offices has skyrocketed. Starline, which provides basic technology, has become an important strategic step for Google.

Layout of Crypto payment field

After Google gave up on entering the banking industry, it hired former PayPal executive Arnold Goldberg to lead its payment division to help improve Google Pay and plan to expand into the crypto payment field. Bill Ready, president of Google Business, said that encryption is a direction that Google is very concerned about, and as user needs and merchant needs develop, we will develop with them. This move is also part of a broader strategy to cooperate with financial services (including Crypto). The Metaverse is a virtual world, and it will inevitably involve the payment field. Google's layout in the Crypto payment field also lays the foundation for entering the Metaverse in the future.

Google Pay is an online payment system developed by Google for making in-app purchases on mobile devices, including Android phones, tablets, and watches.

In April 2021, Google Pay announced a new partnership with global Crypto exchange Gemini. The update allows Gemini users to buy Bitcoin using fiat currency on a debit or credit card through Google Pay. Google partnered with Coinbase in June 2020 to allow exchange customers to use their Coinbase cards to pay for goods and services through Google Pay. Users can also receive discounts of up to 4% when shopping. In October 2020, a partnership between Crypto exchange Bakkt and Google allowed exchange customers to purchase goods and services using certain Crypto through their Google Pay wallets.

Google actually abandoned plans for a service called Plex in November 2021, which allowed users to create checking and savings accounts.

While many Internet giants around the world are investing in the construction of the Metaverse, Google is also setting up a new department to keep up with the development of the Metaverse era. Bloomberg reported that Google is setting up a team dedicated to the Metaverse and related technologies. Shivakumar Venkataraman, Google's vice president of engineering, now manages a department focused on the Metaverse and other next-generation distributed computing and data storage technologies. Shivakumar Venkataraman has been in charge of Google's core business, search advertising, for more than 10 years. Shivakumar Venkataraman's department will carry out various virtual and augmented reality businesses.

Google Cloud, a subsidiary of Google, has already provided some cloud services to companies working on metaverse technology. In early January 2020, Google Cloud worked with CryptoWire, a subsidiary of 63 Moons Technologies, to develop a blockchain and encryption ecosystem.