This week, Meta revealed the official dates of its Connect 2024 technology exhibition. Connect, which runs from September 25–26, 2024, will feature a selection of Meta’s most recent digital products from its social media and XR divisions.
The only information that Meta has released about the event thus far is that it will have several anticipated sessions, special technologies, and speakers like CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
In the past, Connect has provided significant insights into the company’s XR roadmap, among other things. Ray-Ban AR glasses, Meta Quest 3, and the company’s rebranding have all been highlighted at Connect events in the past.
This year has been noteworthy for XR devices because of Apple’s change in focus on the market, which has attracted attention from other major and intriguing headset makers.
Meta will likely need to use Connect to solidify its market position by showcasing an exceptional, competitive product selection in order to combat this growing competition.
In terms of hardware, since the Connect event of the previous year, representatives of Meta have disclosed information on a Meta Quest 3 Lite device and an unannounced MR headset. The latter might try to increase the Meta Quest 3’s visibility at a reduced cost—maybe emulating the popularity of its prior version.
What will make Meta Unique in 2024?
As interest in and funding for XR—or spatial computing—devices expand, new applications and solutions follow. Apple introduced the aforementioned spatial computing movement in 2024. Apple chose this pre-existing phrase to differentiate its immersive productivity focus from Meta’s consumer goal.
Following Apple’s entry into the market, Meta and other players in the space offered reasonably priced and easily obtainable substitutes for the Vision Pro. The company’s Corporate Vice President of Windows and Devices, Pavan Davuluri, most recently revealed at Microsoft Build a new collaboration with Meta to launch a volumetric workspace for the Quest portfolio. With this change, the Quest is now positioned as a rival to Apple Vision Pro’s productivity objective. Meta is launching new XR and testing features similar to Vision Pro.productivity hardware packages.
Meta revealed a new product release for 2024 earlier this year. The goal is to employ more XR headsets in educational environments, including as classrooms. In an effort to promote the use and comprehension of XR technology among educators, the business will launch a new line of Meta Quest products tailored to the field of education.
The education solution will soon provide XR applications tailored to education and management tools for educators, trainers, and administrators, much like the Meta Quest for Business product model that was introduced last year. Teachers will be able to use multiple Quest devices in a classroom setting at once thanks to the new management features.
Meta’s President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, highlighted in a blog post the sizeable market that Meta’s education and training providers represent. He also emphasized the possibility for much larger-scale expansion of immersive education goods and the increasing number of developers making apps for this industry.
Meta’s interest in immersive productivity and its goals in changing the workplace and other productivity sectors were outlined years ago. However, as MR collaboration and less intrusive immersive solutions become more popular in the enterprise, some of these initiatives—like Horizon Workrooms—need updates.
A committed focus on productivity will be supported by the numerous pillars of Meta. But because of its MEta Quest series, the corporation also has a grip on consumer electronics and entertainment systems. The Meta Quest 2 has had a greater impact on the consumer market than other products. Thus, it is expected that consumer adoption initiatives will take center stage.
