Company positions top product exec, Clay Bavor, to fight Facebook’s virtual reality moves Credit: Thinkstock Alphabet Inc.’s Google is focusing on virtual reality and moving the head of its product management team to run the new effort. Clay Bavor, the vice president of product at Google since 2005, has taken on the title of vice president of virtual reality, according to Bavor’s Twitter profile. Bavor is no stranger to taking on big jobs at Google. As a top player in product management, he helped lead some of the company’s most well-known apps, including Gmail, Google Docs and Google Drive. According to a report in Re/Code, Google’s product management lead will be taken over by Diane Greene. She sits on Google’s board of directors and has been acting as a senior vice president of Google’s cloud business. Google and parent company Alphabet recently paid $380 million in stock to acquire Bebop Technologies, the cloud software company Greene founded. That move prompted speculation that Google bought Bebop to bring Greene on board. For Google, these moves are aimed at making sure the company doesn’t fall behind — or further behind — competitors, like Facebook, in the virtual reality arena. Facebook, for instance, has already begun taking pre-orders for its virtual reality console Oculus Rift, with the device expected to begin rolling out in the first quarter of this year. Google, which confirmed Bavor and Greene’s new roles, hasn’t been totally out of the virtual reality realm. The company last fall announced that its video-focused site YouTube would begin supporting virtual reality video, enabling users to view VR video using a smartphone and Google’s Cardboard viewer. “Virtual reality is eventually going to be one of the big data interfaces and given Google is about data access, not having a focus on this could be a going-out-of-business strategy,” said Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group. “The market hasn’t emerged yet, so there is time and Google has a great deal of reach. This may be the first step — develop an expertise, then buy [related companies] to catch up.” Brian Blau, an analyst with Gartner Inc., agreed that Google can still be a player in the virtual reality market. “We could say Google is ahead, given their early start with Glass and their success with Cardboard,” he added. “That said, I really feel it’s still very early in terms of years for the development of a sustainable virtual reality and an immersive technology ecosystem. So it’s feasible and realistic that Google can establish itself as an important technology supplier for this emerging market.” And while Enderle said Bavor is a good pick to get a new virtual reality division off the ground, Google may be looking around for someone to follow him with more expertise. “He is a strong product management guy,” said Enderle. “Eventually, they’ll want a virtual reality person to run this, but he is a good selection to get the group off the ground.” Related content news analysis Apple earnings: About that iPhone 'slump' in China Based on information from Thursday's earnings report, it seems that data pointing to an iPhone slump in China were over-baked. By Jonny Evans May 03, 2024 9 mins iMac iPhone Apple news Microsoft begins to phase out ‘classic’ Teams Microsoft is encouraging Teams customers to move to the new, faster version of the collaboration app; the older version will be switched off next year. By Matthew Finnegan May 03, 2024 3 mins Microsoft Teams Collaboration Software Productivity Software news analysis Apple confirms it will open up the iPad in Europe this fall The latest efforts to comply with Europe’s Digital Markets Act mean developers can offer to side load apps to both iPhones and iPads in the EU. Apple has also taken steps to improve what it offers to smaller and non-commercial developers in the By Jonny Evans May 02, 2024 6 mins iPad Apple Mobile Apps news Udacity offers laid-off US workers free access to its courses for 30 days Sign-ups will be available over the next 30 days By Lucas Mearian May 02, 2024 4 mins Technology Industry IT Jobs IT Skills Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe