CTO Predicts 2025 as a Game-Changing Year for Meta’s Augmented and Virtual Reality

Oh man, where do I even start with this? So, Meta’s CTO, Andrew “Boz” Bosworth—I can’t help but wonder if he ever thought his nickname would sound like a cartoon character’s. Anyway, he was one of the OG engineers at Meta, like, one of the first 15. Imagine being in that early crew! Reminds me of my high school gang, but instead of plotting world domination, we were just trying to figure out who stole the last slice of pizza. But I digress.

So Boz whipped up this memo earlier this year, saying 2025 is either gonna be Meta’s crowning moment or… well, an epic fail for their whole Reality Labs thing—think virtual reality stuff. Talk about pressure, right? It’s like betting all your chips in a poker game while the dealer gives you the side-eye.

Lately, he’s been vibing more with the “we might just be awesome” side of things. But let’s be real, the market’s the real judge, jury, and executioner here. You know how it goes—people are fickle. One minute they’re into AI glasses, the next they’re all about, I don’t know, smart shoes or something.

“This year feels crucial,” Boz mumbled in some Bloomberg shindig. And, hey, their AI Ray-Ban glasses? Total game-changers, at least according to Boz. More than 2 mil sold! Imagine that, outpacing classic Ray-Bans like they’re yesterday’s news. Before even dropping the AI updates, mind you.

Meanwhile, Google’s teaming up with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. Sidebar: Who names these things? Gentle Monster sounds like a bedtime story villain. And Apple’s apparently joining the glasses race by 2026. Suddenly, what was once nerdy and obscure is now the “it” thing. Boz is like, “Competition’s heating up, and we gotta sprint.”

But hold up—the real question is: Will people actually buy into this AR/VR scene? If they don’t, all this tech rivalry means zilch. Frankly, it’s like throwing a fantastic party, only no one shows up because someone else is hosting tacos down the street.

“The market’s a late bloomer,” Boz says—late like that friend who always shows up when the movie’s already started, and you’re whisper-shouting the plot. Some stuff about having confidence and taste (always thought taste was for food and fashion, but sure). He got that tidbit from Sheryl Sandberg, Meta’s former bigwig. She used to preach about companies self-destructing not because of rivals but because they botched their own game plan.

Boz is trying to keep his team’s eyes on their own paper. No cheat-sheet glances. They have these grand plans—fingers crossed, everything’s going smoothly. End of the year, they’ll peek and see how they did. Five years down the line, they’ll find out if it mattered.

Life’s a gamble, you know? And for Boz, it’s all about whether Reality Labs hits the jackpot or folds. So, yeah, stay tuned—it could be the dawn of something epic or just another tale in tech’s “what could have been” saga.