Oculus Rift Smartphone Support May Be On The Way

A fews days after discussing possible price points and business models for the Oculus Rift, the company is now thinking about what devices that the VR headset will integrate with besides PCs. CEO Brendan Iribe sees the Oculus Rift has working perfectly with smartphones, and he also noted that the headset would release at some point next year, most likely.

Speaking with Edge, Iribe said that consoles aren't a huge focus for the company, and instead have a lot of interest in "next-gen cellphones." He notes that it has mostly to do with innovation and the upgrade cycle of products, noting that smartphones advance much faster than consoles, and that could match up nicely with the Oculus Rift's plans to innovate just as quickly.

Iribe notes that he loves consoles, but the company specifically is "a lot more excited about where mobile's going to go, and being able to plug it right into a next-gen cellphone." He points out that smartphone innovation is "almost doubling every year, compared to a console that's just stuck it out for eight years."

As for Oculus Rift competitors, Iribe says bring it on, as it'll speed up development and innovation for virtual reality. He notes that Oculus Rift is just one year in, and there are a lot of problems that still need to be tackled. With other virtual reality developers out there, VR could see faster innovation, and Iribe wonders what we'll see in eight to ten years.

As for the 2014 release window, Iribe says that the Oculus Rift definitely won't launch this year, but 2014 seems more like a feasible deadline. Obviously, a specific release date isn't set yet, but the company wants to get the headset right before they send it out the public, and a 2014 launch window would give them enough time to complete it.

SOURCE: Edge