Just earlier this week, Hugo Barra announced that he's leaving Xiaomi and returning to Silicon Valley, and now we know where he's off to next: Facebook.
Hugo Barra had a senior position in Google's Android team, which he left to join Xiaomi. As the global vice president of Xiaomi, Barra guided the company through the rough waters of an international expansion and played a big role in Xiaomi's growth, but it's now time to seek a different adventure.
Facebook Taps Hugo Barra For Team Oculus
After announcing plans to depart from Xiaomi and return to Silicon Valley, Barra has now confirmed that he will be joining Facebook as the vice president of virtual reality, in charge of Team Oculus.
Joining Facebook as VP of virtual reality (VPVR!) to lead Team @Oculus. So excited! Mark posted about it here: https://t.co/kYgIniSQiM pic.twitter.com/7fYTkniykr
— Hugo Barra (@hbarra) January 26, 2017
"I'm excited that Hugo Barra is joining Facebook to lead all of our virtual reality efforts, including our Oculus team," says Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. "Hugo's in China right now, so here we are together in VR. It seems fitting."
Zuckerberg further notes that Barra shares his conviction that virtual reality and augmented reality will serve as the next major computing platform, and having him on board will unlock new levels of creativity.
In a comment to Zuckerberg's announcement on Facebook, Barra says that working in VR has been a dream of his even when VR and AR were just notions bordering on the line of science fiction. Technology has come a long way since then and VR and AR are playing increasingly important roles.
"There's no greater calling in our industry than taking breakthrough tech and making it available to the greatest number of people," adds Barra. "Really looking forward to doing just that at Facebook - taking VR mainstream."
Oculus Virtual Reality Ambitions
Facebook's Oculus team has been left without a top leader ever since former CEO Brendan Iribe bowed out back in December, leaving his position to lead the new PC VR division. Iribe currently oversees two Oculus units and Barra will join the fray to handle VR efforts across the company.
While VR is not mainstream just yet, Oculus is among the leading players despite its recent turmoil. Oculus cofounder Palmer Luckey went under fire late last year for investing in a pro-Donald Trump political organization, which led to an Oculus boycott, and Zuckerberg recently had to testify in an intellectual property case against Oculus, revealing that it spent $3 billion to acquire the company.
Nevertheless, Oculus is riding the storm and Barra will play an important role once he joins the company. If Facebook plays its cards right, virtual reality could become a huge source of revenue in the future and ambitious leaders such as Zuckerberg and Barra could make the prospect all the more promising.
It remains to be seen how things will pan out and how Oculus will fare with Barra in charge, but this new collaboration could lead to great things. Barra previously said he would leave Xiaomi after the Chinese New Year, so he should assume his new role at Facebook's Oculus soon enough.
