Epic’s win against Google could lead to more AR innovation

Earlier this week, a California judge handed Fortnite maker Epic a massive win in its lawsuit against Google: Starting next month, Google will have to open up its Google Play store to third-party app stores, among other things.

The ruling, unless overturned on appeal, will almost certainly lead to Epic’s Game Store coming to Google Play. However, it could also have implications for AR device makers, and perhaps even influence their future hardware design decisions.

• Many AR glasses makers offload at least some functionality to an external compute unit to reduce the weight of their devices, increase battery life, and make sure that the thing doesn’t get too damn hot on your face.

• Meta, for instance, is using  wireless compute puck for its Orion AR glasses. Having a dedicated unit like that allows Meta to use processors optimized for AR, but it also comes with a secondary benefit: It unties the device from your phone, which also means that Meta is able to run its own software – including an app store – without having to worry about interference from Google or Apple.

• Xreal on the other hand uses a very different approach for its AR glasses: The company, like many others building similar visor-like products, requires you to plug the device into your phone, effectively offloading all compute to the mobile device. (Xreal also sells an optional separate handheld that runs Android.)

• By doing so, Xreal has had to adhere to Google’s Android policies: The company can mirror compatible phones, and run its own app on your phone, but it has been barred from offering its own app store for AR-optimized apps – until now.

• Third-party app stores on Android could allow companies like Xreal to be a lot more proactive about working with developers, and optimizing the software for its devices. They could even lead to a new generation of Orion-like wireless AR glasses that use phones to offload compute.

This isn’t just a thought experiment. Third-party app stores were actually a big point of contention when device makers launched mobile VR headsets a decade ago. I’ve been told by people in the know that Samsung’s partnership with Meta caused a lot of friction between the device maker and Google over this very issue.

Samsung’s Gear VR headset had its own app store to facilitate the discovery and download of VR apps. Google wouldn’t have allowed Samsung to distribute the Oculus Store on Google Play, forcing the device maker to effectively sideload the app – a workaround that further complicated mobile VR.

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