Facebook plans for next year: Drones, information applications and virtual reality

December 23 News, according to foreign media reports, with the recent years of growth, Facebook's size and user base is no one, which laid the social media platform industry leader. However, one of the questions that has plagued us in 2014 is what will Facebook do next?

What Facebook will be presenting to the public in the 2015, we'd better take a look at Facebook's past dynamics so that we may get some clues.

Information application

In February of this year, Facebook took the information application WhatsApp with a 16 million-dollar price-Snapchat in the face of a biting accusation. It is said that WhatsApp's monthly active user capacity can reach 600 million, which will undoubtedly give Facebook's level 1 billion users a little more. Of course, the acquisition of WhatsApp does not seem to cause a decline in Snapchat user volume.

Facebook, which once offered 3 billion dollars to buy Snapchat, has been rejected. As a strategic response, Facebook released its own instantaneous information application slingshot. Shortly thereafter, Facebook also added a service called Lightning (Bolt) to Instagram, which allows users to send instant messages, and the user can swipe information one at a time.

These do not seem to have a substantial impact on Snapchat, and a study says Snapchat is still more popular among college students and peer users. It is estimated that Snapchat is now worth 10 billion dollars. With Snapchat continuing to look for investment, the future market value could reach $12 billion trillion.

In any case, according to Facebook's recent moves, one thing is clear, and Facebook is not going to surrender to Snapchat surrender in the instantaneous information field. In 2015, Facebook will continue to work hard until it finally launches public-welcome information applications.

Virtual reality

The move by Facebook, which buys 2 billion of dollars for virtual reality-wearing equipment maker Oculus Rift, is a surprise to industry analysts. Previously, industry analysts believe that virtual reality head wear equipment is only a singular work in the industry, does not have the mainstream market value potential. Although many people have never tried any virtual reality system, Facebook's 2 billion dollar handwriting has given the industry recognition.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in October that a Oculus acquisition would not bring immediate market potential, and that we were on a long road. "We have a long-term bet on the future," Zuckerberg said. "Every 10-15 years, there will be a major computing platform in the market." We believe that virtual and augmented reality will be an important part of the upcoming computing platform. ”

Oculus's acquisition allows Facebook and the development community to build strong ties. The September Oculus at a developer conference in Hollywood improved Facebook's credibility and brand appeal in the development community. While building strong ties and sharing ideas with the development community cannot translate into tangible benefits, some of Oculus's views at the conference are likely to be the highlight of the Facebook2015 year.

UAV provides Internet connection

If Facebook experts and analysts think the takeover Oculus is a bizarre gamble on the future of mainstream computing, Facebook's acquisition of Ascenta, a British solar drone maker, is even more surprising.

The reality is that Facebook's rationale for Ascenta's takeover is no more. As part of its connectivity Laboratory (Connectivity Lab), it is being used as a tool to assist in providing wireless Internet access to services in areas such as Africa where Internet connectivity is inconvenient, Facebook said on the Internet.org web site.

"We have the core members of the Ascenta team who will work with us to develop an Internet-connected drone," Zuckerberg said in a statement in Facebook in March. ”

In this connection, Yael Maguire, head of the lab engineering at Facebook, said Facebook wanted to fly "Yelmagre" in 2015.

All of this is Facebook's timetable, but the market remains to see how these ambitious plans will be implemented.

(Responsible editor: Mengyishan)