Google is prepping its own virtual reality version of Android in a bid to compete with rivals in the space including Facebook, Samsung, HTC, Microsoft and others, a new report on The Wall Street Journal has claimed.
According to the report citing sources familiar with the matter, Google has tasked a group of engineers to work on the new android platform which will be used to power virtual reality applications.
“Those people said Google has “tens of engineers” and other staff working on the project. Google plans to freely distribute the new operating system, they said, mimicking a strategy that has made Android by far the most popular operating system for smartphones, powering more than one billion phones”, the WSJ report reads.
As per the report, Google’s VR software would be distributed freely to hardware makers in the same way as it is on smartphones and tablets. The report didn’t mention anything about the launch plans. Google is yet to comment on the report.
If the rumor turns out to be true then Google’s virtual reality Android version would be seen competing with rivals Samsung and Facebook who have already showcased their own software on the Gear VR and Oculus Rift. There’s also Sony Corp’s virtual reality headset ‘Project Morpheus’ and Microsoft’s virtual reality device ‘HoloLens’ in the list.
