On the other hand, their recent shift to AI despite rebranding to Meta and claiming to focus primarily on AR/VR from on then doesn't show very clear focus. Sure, they need to stay relevant in an AI boom, but specifically Facebook has seen dropping numbers in users for years now, young people don't use it at all, and Instagram will hopefully soon be widely recognized as the mental health cancer that it is, and at this point it's trying too hard to be TikTok. Still they cannot afford to drop these legacy products because they are what makes them money for AR/VR R&D.
I see their refocusing on developing accessible AR/VR headsets as a good move as even though they are still seeing massive losses on it, they are spearheading the hardware development and creating a market. The software (apps, games, experiences to explore) is still absolutely terrible though. Whether or not they will manage to be the top driver in this field remains to be seen, but I wouldn't bet on it. The massive rebranding and developing every product possible seems more like a crisis of vision to me. They are stretched thin and that's not good positioning before an economic downturn.
I used to initially have the same thoughts -- seemed more like a crisis of a vision.
I think as time's passed since though the plan has "aged" nicely, at least from my perspective. I think Meta's much better positioned for success than they were upon the first (abysmal) announcement.
Regardless of how drastic or desperate the move was, I think it's built a much longer runway for them to build and compete on then what they had previously.
Ultimately tho: hoping these companies all die off lol shit's gettin dystopian af
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