The search giant wants more people to use its Cardboard
headset and they do this by helping software developers build virtual reality apps
for Google's main rival. Google wants everyone to wear cardboard boxes on
their faces. It wants that so much that it's just announced a plan to
make it easier for Apple iPhone developers to write VR apps.
Google embraced Apple's tech more fully on Wednesday
by releasing a software development kit for iPhones. An SDK is
techspeak for a set of software tools to help programmers write apps
that take advantage of specific features in different devices. When
it comes to VR, Google's approach is no frills, its Cardboard headset
is literally made of cardboard. Selling for about $25, it turns your
smartphone into a VR screen. Cardboard apps are available both for
phones running Android and for iPhones, which run Apple's iOS mobile
software. Android and iOS are the two most popular mobile operating
systems, running on about 97 percent of the world's phones.
The
new set of tools lets software developers more easily embed 360-degree
videos -- which let people look up, down and around in a video scene --
into their iPhone and Android apps, as well as on the Web. Think a
travel app letting you experience a deep-sea dive or a real estate app
letting you virtually tour an apartment. Google's push
for VR on iPhones is just the latest in Silicon Valley's love affair
with the nascent technology of virtual reality.
Google
isn't done with Cardboard. In May, the search giant is expected to
release an updated version that may ditch the titular cardboard for
plastic. It could also introduce an entirely new device that doesn't use
a phone screen as the viewer.
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