Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg laid out his strategy for augmented reality, saying the social network will use smartphone cameras to overlay virtual items on the real world rather than waiting for AR glasses to be technically possible.
People will be able to use their phones to play games virtually on coffee tables, overlay statistics on a video of their daily run, leave a virtual note on the fridge, and more, Zuckerberg said Tuesday on stage at F8, the company's developer conference in San Jose, California. It's an evolution of the kind of technology that Snap Inc. pioneered, allowing people to change their faces into fun characters like puppies and vomiting rainbows. Facebook has spent the last few months adding Snapchat-like cameras to all of its apps.
"Even if we were a little slow to add cameras to all our apps, I'm confident we're going to push this augmented reality platform forward," Zuckerberg said. "As silly as these effects might seem, they're actually really important and meaningful because they allow us to share what's important to us on a daily basis."