Zuck imagines a future use for virtual reality: Photo albums

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg today gave people a sense of virtual reality experiences he’s imagining, following the company’s $2 billion acquisition of Oculus VR last year.

Zuckerberg envisions these devices becoming smaller and smaller, he said today in a town hall-style question-and-answer session that Facebook is streaming live.

“What I think is going to be really cool as the form factor keeps on getting smaller and smaller [is they] start looking like normal glasses or sunglasses,” Zuckerberg said. “You can use it without it being tied to a computer … . You can move around with it.”

And, not surprisingly, these virtual reality systems could let people check out pictures.

“You’ll just be able to snap your fingers and be able to instantiate a photo album,” Zuckerberg said. “People will be able to see it through their glasses.”

But those experiences might not happen when the Oculus consumer VR headsets ship in the first quarter of 2016.

“It’s going to take five, seven, 10, maybe 12 years to build that out, to have something that really works and is cheap enough for everyone around the world to use,” Zuckerberg said. “That’s what we’re trying to do with Oculus.”