Facebook Changes Company Name to ‘Meta,’ Announces New VR Headset & AR Smartglasses

According to CNBC, the company name change was disclosed during the Facebook Connect augmented and virtual reality conference. Meta is an abbreviated variant of the sci-fi phrase “metaverse,” which CEO Mark Zuckerberg has started using publicly in recent weeks. It refers to a virtual environment where people can both play and work. The names of the social media services Facebook and Instagram will not change.

“Today we are seen as a social media company, but in our DNA we are a company that builds technology to connect people, and the metaverse is the next frontier just like social networking was when we got started,” Zuckerberg said.

In recent years, Facebook has poured resources into VR and AR hardware development. A Portal video-calling device line, Ray-Ban Stories smartglasses, and a range of Oculus virtual-reality headset models are among the company’s key goods.

Yaser Sheikh, director of Facebook Reality Labs, Pittsburgh, speaks during the virtual Facebook Connect event, where the company announced its rebranding as Meta, in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021. A major theme at the annual conference will be the company’s ambitions for the so-called metaverse, a new digital space that it believes will supplant smartphone apps as the primary form of online interaction.
*Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images*

At the conference, two new products were also announced. Project Cambria, a high-end virtual reality headset, will be released next year, while Meta’s first fully AR-capable smart glasses, Project Nasaray, is in the works with an undetermined release date.

Leica Relaunches Summilux-M 35 f/1.4

RayBans Facebook glasses are displayed during the virtual Facebook Connect event, where the company announced its rebranding as Meta, in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021. A major theme at the annual conference will be the company’s ambitions for the so-called metaverse, a new digital space that it believes will supplant smartphone apps as the primary form of online interaction.
*Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images*

Meta plans to spend an extra $10 billion on metaverse technology in the coming year. According to Zuckerberg, the company aims to “invest many billions of dollars for years to come before the metaverse reaches scale” and becomes popular in 5 to 10 years.

“Our hope is that within the next decade, the metaverse will reach a billion people, host hundreds of billions of dollars of digital commerce, and support jobs for millions of creators and developers,” Zuckerberg said. “We believe the metaverse will be the successor to the mobile internet.”