We 12 June 2019:
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (Reuters) – Facebook Inc plans to release new versions of its Portal video chatting devices this autumn, the company’s vice president of AR/VR, Andrew Bosworth, said during an interview at the Code Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona.
“We have a lot more that we’re going to unveil later in this fall, new form factors that we’re going to be shipping,” Bosworth said of the new devices. He did not say how many had been sold since Portal’s launch late last year in the United States, or what the new devices were. The launch came amid concerns over Facebook’s privacy and content moderation practices that have led some people to abandon the service and the company to warn of thinning profits. The release of new video chat devices fits into Facebook’s focus toward private messaging by encryption of conversations on more of its messaging services. Facebook is one of the biggest global players in private messaging with its WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, each used by more than 1 billion people. Only WhatsApp fully secures message content from all outsiders, including Facebook itself.
