Market Reality: Instagram Smartglasses, Oculus AR Gaming, Google AR Search, & Facebook Exec Shuffle

As we move toward the end of the year, the wheels of the augmented reality space continue to shift in major ways.

Facebook is currently facing yet another round of public and governmental scrutiny over its smartglasses product, but we propose a different scenario that might have helped the social media giant avoid its current marketing issues. Also, as the Oculus Quest 2 gets more attention for its passthrough feature, we just got a peek at what AR gaming might look like on the platform.

Over at Google, the inexorable march toward mainstreaming AR continues with a major new addition to its AR search feature, and Facebook is undergoing a huge new internal shift that will likely influence how central AR and VR are to the company as a whole.

Oh, and don't forget to check out our XR industry job alerts, there might be something in there that might be right up your immersive alley...

Unpacking the Possibly Fatal Flaw with Facebook's Smartglasses Launch

One of the best recent outings in the Marvel universe is the animated series What If...?, which explores alternate universe takes on various superhero storylines that deliver fascinating scenarios if one single factor had been different in the story.

Using that framing, I'd like you to take a moment to imagine something in the real tech multiverse that is just as potentially fascinating: What if Facebook had launched Ray-Bay Stories as a partnership with Instagram instead of Facebook?

Read on to get a deeper look into how the marketing approach of Facebook could have been different in a way that yielded even more success for the stylish new smartglasses product...

REALITY BITES: Chinese augmented reality startup Nreal has just secured a major financial path to the future. This week, the company announced that it had landed $100 million in Series C funding. Although the company is promising to devote the new resources to development of its platform and relationships with carriers, chief among Nreal's priorities is using the new funding to expand the availability of the Nreal Light device to new international markets.

Pop Music and VR Collide to Give Us an Accidental Preview of Oculus AR Gaming

It's always fun to get an unexpected glimpse of the future, especially when that peek is so close you can actually feel the excitement of the new emerging dynamic.

Such is the case thanks to a new Oculus Quest 2 commercial designed to promote a new aspect of the VR dance game Beat Saber.

Keep reading to dive into the visual feast from Oculus and see how it could show us the first look at AR gaming using the Oculus Quest 2...

JOB ALERTS: Facebook's Oculus division is hiring a director of product marketing for its AR portfolio, the position is located in Burlingame, California. Ricoh is hiring an intern for its Mixed Reality in the Workplace team. The position is remote. Amazon is hiring an AR hardware retrofit engineer at its North Reading, Massachusetts location. Booz Allen Hamilton is hiring an AR/VR full stack senior developer, the position is based in Washington, D.C.

Google Continues to Build Up Its AR Search Product with an Important New Update

Even with unlimited resources and a serious case of wanderlust, it's unlikely that you or I will be able to see all of the most famous structures in the world in person.

That being the case, Google can now bring those landmarks to you in augmented reality.

Read on to see how you can now use Google to explore some of the most famous wonders of the Earth using AR on Google Search...

REALITY BITES: A quick note from Next Reality Editor Adario Strange: "Heads up to all the loyal Next Reality readers out there, I'll be leaving my editor position next month to join an amazing new team here in New York (more on that later). You'll still find me in the metaverse mix in surprising new ways. Thanks to all the amazing people in XR!"

Facebook's AR & VR Chief Just Became Even More Important to the Company

If the importance of augmented reality and VR hardware to Facebook's future wasn't already clear enough, a shake-up in the executive ranks at the company has made it as clear as smartglasses lenses.

Late Wednesday, Facebook chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer, who CEO Mark Zuckerberg affectionately refers to as "Shrep," announced that he will transition out of his role to serve as the company's first senior fellow in a part-time capacity.

Continue reading to find out how the change in executive management could steer Facebook into an important new direction when it comes to AR and VR...

Every Friday, Next Reality reviews the latest headlines from the financial side of augmented and mixed reality. This weekly Market Reality column covers funding announcements, mergers and acquisitions, market analysis, and the like. Check out previous editions of Market Reality for more news you may have missed.