[artfulhippo]

A few months ago, I was debating with a friend about the next major computing interface.

Is it Voice or Spacial Computing (AR/VR/xR)?

It's clearly voice, for many reasons. To cut the argument short, realize that language is what separates humans from other animals, and recognize that voice is the natural form of language, not writing. The advancement of AI requires major advancement in understanding human emotions, which are conveyed through subtleties in voice, and not picked up in text.

But it doesn't need to be either/or. Why not both Voice and xR?

Over time, voice and xR will converge, as voice interfaces get integrated into more consumer services, and xR gets more productive applications (right now it's all games and porn). But by then, Amazon will be well-positioned to get into the fun, but Facebook will not be taken seriously.

Unless Facebook can disrupt the global monetary system, pushing Libra by providing a discount for all purchases made within Oculus.

[the_watcher]

I know the Portal wasn't exactly a huge hit in terms of sales (though the reviews of the product functionality alone were fairly positive IIRC), but it's pretty clear evidence that Facebook is not ignoring voice as a piece of its xR portfolio. Oculus is pretty clearly the leader in consumer VR at the moment, and Portal sits within Boz's AR/VR org. I wouldn't count them out based on their ability to ship products quite yet. So unless you think people will avoid anything made by Facebook as a rule (possible, though I don't think there's much evidence of it at the moment), I still think they're in about as good position as they could hope for re: being the xR platform.

[artfulhippo]

That Oculus is the leader in consumer VR (games and porn) does little to spark confidence in Facebook as a hard product design firm. Oculus was an acquisition, and we know Facebook is good at acquiring amazing companies.

But can Facebook create innovative products that people want? This is still an open question. After all, Facebook's success comes from out-executing on the ideas of others.

I haven't used a Portal, but isn't it video-focused? And doesn't it integrate Alexa?

I'm sure Facebook is aggressively trying to build a competing voice interface, but it's far behind Google, Amazon, and Apple. It will be harder to out-execute Amazon than Snapchat. And Facebook will need to improve its branding to even have a chance.

[the_watcher]

Oculus was acquired long enough ago to attribute the product success of pretty much all of the consumer success to Facebook's ability to ship. The Quest was designed and shipped entirely under Boz, for example. They didn't buy Oculus and simply stop working.

[artfulhippo]

Facebook deserves credit for iterating on solid foundations.

If they make VR useful outside of games and porn, then they will deserve credit for meaningful innovation.

To clarify why FB cannot be satisfied with the games and porn market is that theres a big gender imbalance in those markets, and it runs against the demographics of Facebooks other apps, which have equal or even female-majority user-bases.

Given its PR and branding issues, Facebook does not want to be a games and porn company (techbro) company.