Meta’s Oculus Quest App Lab
So I found an answer to my intrigue regarding Mark Zuckerberg’s off-handed quip about “neural interfaces”, but I’m still at a loss to understand his positioning of Quest as the “open” alternative to Apple’s “closed” Vision. One friend sent me a pointer to Meta’s “App Lab”, which they announced in February 2021:
Whether the goal is to build a business, create a community, test
and experiment with new apps, or get feedback on new ideas, you
control how your app is distributed. App Lab supports both free
and paid apps, which are shareable via a URL or Oculus Keys. While
App Lab is distinct from the Oculus Store and App Lab apps won’t
appear in the Oculus Store, customers who install apps from App
Lab will find them in their Quest library. App Lab apps can also
be searched by exact name and found in the “App Lab” section of
results. App Lab apps can access the majority of standard platform
features, including automatic update distribution, platform
integration and SDKs, app analytics, release channels, and more.
We’ve taken steps to reduce the technical requirements and Virtual
Reality Checks (VRCs) to make submission as simple as possible. In
order to promote a safe, secure and positive experience, App Lab
apps are required to comply with our App Lab Policies,
including our Oculus Content Guidelines, Data Use
Policy, and App Policies.
Follow that link to “App Policies” and you’ll see that this doesn’t sound very different from Apple’s iOS-derived platforms:
Apps hosted on the platform may not contain, use, or make
available commerce solutions — including for app payment
processing, in-app purchases, or in-app advertising — except as
provided in the platform SDK, or otherwise expressly agreed by you
and Meta Platforms Technologies in writing. For example, if your
app has in-app purchases, and your app is distributed through any
Meta Platforms Technologies distribution channel, including the
Meta Quest Store, you must use the Platform In-App Purchases to
handle such payment processing.
There’s also a third-party thing called SideQuest that ostensibly lets you “sideload” apps on a Quest, but it requires both desktop software on a Mac or PC and a Meta developer account. I can definitely see how Quest is at least slightly more open than Vision, but on the grand scale of open-vs.-closed platforms, it seems pretty closed. What am I missing?
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So I found an answer to my intrigue regarding Mark Zuckerberg’s off-handed quip about “neural interfaces”, but I’m still at a loss to understand his positioning of Quest as the “open” alternative to Apple’s “closed” Vision. One friend sent me a pointer to Meta’s “App Lab”, which they announced in February 2021:
Whether the goal is to build a business, create a community, test
and experiment with new apps, or get feedback on new ideas, you
control how your app is distributed. App Lab supports both free
and paid apps, which are shareable via a URL or Oculus Keys. While
App Lab is distinct from the Oculus Store and App Lab apps won’t
appear in the Oculus Store, customers who install apps from App
Lab will find them in their Quest library. App Lab apps can also
be searched by exact name and found in the “App Lab” section of
results. App Lab apps can access the majority of standard platform
features, including automatic update distribution, platform
integration and SDKs, app analytics, release channels, and more.
We’ve taken steps to reduce the technical requirements and Virtual
Reality Checks (VRCs) to make submission as simple as possible. In
order to promote a safe, secure and positive experience, App Lab
apps are required to comply with our App Lab Policies,
including our Oculus Content Guidelines, Data Use
Policy, and App Policies.
Follow that link to “App Policies” and you’ll see that this doesn’t sound very different from Apple’s iOS-derived platforms:
Apps hosted on the platform may not contain, use, or make
available commerce solutions — including for app payment
processing, in-app purchases, or in-app advertising — except as
provided in the platform SDK, or otherwise expressly agreed by you
and Meta Platforms Technologies in writing. For example, if your
app has in-app purchases, and your app is distributed through any
Meta Platforms Technologies distribution channel, including the
Meta Quest Store, you must use the Platform In-App Purchases to
handle such payment processing.
There’s also a third-party thing called SideQuest that ostensibly lets you “sideload” apps on a Quest, but it requires both desktop software on a Mac or PC and a Meta developer account. I can definitely see how Quest is at least slightly more open than Vision, but on the grand scale of open-vs.-closed platforms, it seems pretty closed. What am I missing?