Hugo Barra joins Facebook as Head of Virtual Reality Program
After his exit from Xiaomi, Hugo Barra has joined Facebook as Vice President of Virtual Reality Program (VPVR). Hugo has been the face and voice of Xioami for the last few years. He catapulted the company from being a startup to an international household name. His exit from Xiaomi was not expected and now he has joined hands with Mark Zuckerberg.
The Past
Hugo Barra was with Google from 2008 to 2013. In 2012 he was elevated to VP designation. He worked closely with the Android team and his involvement was phenomenal with the Nexus tablets and mobiles. He joined Xiaomi on September 2013 as VP of International operations and since then he was known for his exemplary stage presence and innovative marketing strategies. He worked closely with the press and blogger media to make sure that his voice was heard to the masses. Earlier this week, Hugo announced his exit from Xiaomi.
The Present
In a Facebook post, welcoming Hugo Barra, Mark said, “I’ve known Hugo for a long time, starting when he helped develop the Android operating system, to the last few years he’s worked at Xiaomi in Beijing bringing innovative devices to millions of people. Hugo shares my belief that virtual and augmented reality will be the next major computing platform. They’ll enable us to experience completely new things and be more creative than ever before. Hugo is going to help build that future, and I’m looking forward to having him on our team.”
Hugo announced “I’m excited to share my next adventure as I return to Silicon Valley—I’ll be joining Facebook as VP of virtual reality (VPVR!) and lead the Oculus team. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun always says that the highest calling of an engineer is to make technology breakthroughs quickly and readily available to the widest possible spectrum of humanity….”
The Future
With technology like Augmented reality and Virtual reality looking to be promising in the near future, Hugo’s role at Facebook would be phenomenal. From what I know of Hugo Barra personally, I believe that Facebook has won a bumper lottery and it is going to be a great journey for him and for Facebook. All the best, Hugo Barra.
