| Two days after the release of the latest Android 7.0 mobile operating system code-named Nougat, Daydream (hereinafter referred to as "Daydream"), a virtual reality (VR) platform developed by Google, will also be launched in the next few weeks. Launched along with the platform, there is also new video content from video sites such as Hulu and YouTube "net celebrities". |
Building the Android of VR
Google is currently relying on various Apps, short videos and games to promote "Daydream", a platform that integrates stores and software services. The company hopes that "Daydream" will become the first product that people think of first in the VR world, just like Android. As with smartphones.
At this year's Google I/O conference, the company said that a series of Google's own products will appear on the "Daydream" platform, including VR special editions of Street View, YouTube, photos, movies and other services. The operating system "Nougat", which was just upgraded this week, also reflects Google's layout in VR. The system supports the VR platform and will have a built-in VR interface, which is convenient for users to directly experience this function while wearing Google glasses.
There will be dozens of apps on the "Daydream" platform, including the video app YouTube, Hulu, HBO's streaming service, and apps from major sports leagues including the NBA and MLB. Google will participate in the promotion of some of these projects, but will not be exclusive to Google, and the Hulu platform will synchronize the release time of some video content with Daydream.
Cooperate with video sites, Internet celebrities, etc. to produce content
Including Google, all technology companies involved in VR are very clear that there is an urgent shortage of good content resources in this field. Due to the particularity of VR visual display methods, the content must also be tailored, so various companies are in the field. Invest in content. Facebook, which relies on Oculus for VR, has invested millions of dollars in some independent video projects.
Anonymous people familiar with the matter revealed to Bloomberg that Google will cooperate to promote the content of the Hulu video website and invest in the 360-degree video shooting project of YouTube celebrity Justine Ezarik and others. At the same time, the Daydream project has reached cooperation agreements with video game publishers and sports leagues to maximize the content richness of the VR project.
Focus on mobile-based VR
The world's tech giants are currently engaged in an inevitable battle for VR, with the likes of Facebook, Sony, Samsung and HTC all gearing up. But Google has its own way to kill a bloody way-focus on the mobile terminal.
Sony's Morpheus headset comes bundled with its PlayStation game controllers, while Google is focusing on mobile-based VR, which allows users to connect their phones to their masks or headsets. After wearing the headset, users can use various apps such as YouTube and HBO Now through "daydream".
Finn Staber, co-founder of TheWaveVR, who is developing a music app for "Daydream", said: "Obviously, Google has spent a lot of money for internal applications." VR devices cost customers a few hundred dollars, but mobile phones have a much wider audience.
Now on the market, whether it is Sony's PS VR, Facebook's Oculus, or HTC's Vive, the price is very high, and you need to buy another console. Mobile VR obviously has great potential. In this regard, only Samsung’s Gear VR can be compared with Google, but the fly in the ointment is that Gear VR must be used with a certain model of mobile phone, which has penetrated into a large number of mobile phones around the world. In front of Google, the owner of the Android system in China, it is definitely a fatal wound.
'Daydream' Sets the Standard for Mobile VR
At present, although Google is also involved in the design of VR headsets and controllers, it is mainly involved in the "reference design" link, and VR hardware equipment is still manufactured by other companies with their own brand products.
In other words, Google not only hopes to make "Daydream" a platform like Android, but also set a unified standard for mobile VR through this system. Once the hardware market is no longer uneven, its subsequent content production and app entry can be standardized, which can improve efficiency for software and hardware manufacturers and content producers.
Therefore, Google's VR platform Daydream is by no means a daydream, but the beginning of Google's mobile VR dream.