It seems that Facebook isn’t the only social media giant that believes virtual reality will play an important role in how people connect in the future.
ByteDance, the Chinese internet technology company behind TikTok, is rumored to be in talks with Pico Interactive, a Chinese manufacturer of virtual reality headsets for enterprise and home customers, about a potential acquisition. Not much is known at the moment, but some sources are saying that ByteDance is ready to offer Pico 5 billion yuan ($771 million).
Earlier this year, Pico launched its consumer-only headset, the Neo 3, in China and its enterprise headsets, the Neo 3 Pro and Neo 3 Pro Eye, in the West. The company employs around 300 people, and it has operations in the United States, Europe, China, and Japan.
“Pico Interactive focuses on creating amazing VR platforms for any application. Our mission is built around the principle of ‘user first design’ and we design all our products with this principle in mind,” states Pico on its official website.
Should ByteDance decide to release its own VR headset and launch an accompanying set of services that would take advantage of it, it would have to face an uphill battle.
Facebook is currently dominating the VR market with its Oculus Quest headset, whose affordable price and an increasingly large content library are just two reasons why it’s the best-selling headset in the world.
Apple is also planning to capture its share of the VR market, with a JP Morgan analysis saying that it may release a high-end VR headset in the first quarter of 2022.
