For several years now, Facebook has been taking charge in developing
next generation media platforms in AR and VR – especially with the acquisition
of Oculus and the launch of the Oculus Rift gaming platform. Late last year,
Facebook acquired a startup called CTRL-Labs.
which is developing an interface to read neural activity to translate movement
on a digital screen. This is a particularly interesting deal because VR/AR is
still very much a nascent media platform – and a neural interface is certainly
next next-gen.
Nevertheless, there is a clear use case for this technology
in advancing usability and UX of VR, and also a natural extension of Facebook’s
business model – leveraging its Oculus and neural interface devices to take ownership
of potential next generation platforms, and have even more low-level,
fundamental data on its users (i.e. eye movement, brain activity, etc.).
By contrast to the emerging tech/R&D acquisition in
CTRL-Labs, Facebook’s recent investment in Indian telecom giant Jio is likely
to have a more immediate business impact. WhatsApp is dominant in India and this
partnership with Jio could (finally) spawn monetization opportunities in India
akin to how WeChat has dominated the Chinese messaging/”life platform” market.
It will be interesting to observe the impact of this acquisition on Facebook’s
strategy for WhatsApp and its other apps in India, and potentially how this use
case could be disseminated across other countries.
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