Samsung wants to dive head first into the VR marketplace so where do they look? Why to Oculus, of course. The tech giant is hooking up with Oculus VR to create a headset that facilitates virtual reality interaction through their phones. Quite directly, actually, as your phone becomes the screen in a headset that could potentially act as a media player, gaming system, and more.
The deal is a swap
From Engadget, “Oculus is handling the software side of the product, while Samsung handles the hardware. The deal is a swap: Oculus gives Samsung early access to its mobile software development kit and helps develop user interface software, while Samsung gives Oculus early access to its next-gen OLED screens. And yes, Oculus is still making its own, gaming-focused, PC-based virtual reality headset; that’s why it needs next-gen, high-pixel-density OLED screens from Samsung.”
This partnership could be a good one for both companies as it jumps Samsung to the head of the VR line while limiting costs to research and development.  And Oculus gets the fancy screens they need to make their toys work all pretty. On the other hand, if the whole thing goes awry the entire VR market could be irrevocably screwed up, especially if the two pieces of technology don’t mesh well once they hit a marketplace filled with critical gamers.
Whether this plan proves to be visionary or cautionary, it will be an interesting exercise at the very least.
Published: Jun 3, 2014 03:34 am