[commentary] Facebook says that its purchase of Oculus is a long bet on the future. And that wager on virtual reality is rooted in the actual reality of the social network’s past and present.
By Ross Rubin
Facebook’s $2 billion acquisition of OculusVR, developer of the Rift headset that has reset expectations of virtual reality, represents the third in a number of big-ticket pickups by the hugely popular social network, following its Instagram and WhatsApp deals. It’s also Facebook’s first move into hardware.
What does a business focused on social networking want with a gadget that, some would say, falls into one of the most antisocial technologies of all time? Facebook explained its purchase as a long-term bet on the future of computing, saying that it believes virtual reality will be the next wave after mobile.
Read the whole story here.