Google creates new virtual reality computing division

Alphabet Inc's Google now has a virtual reality (VR) computing division.

The company has named Clay Bavor, the executive running its product management team, to head the new arm.

Joshua Cruz, a Google spokesman, confirmed Bavor's new role on the team, but declined to provide any further details. According to his Twitter profile, Bavor is the vice president of Virtual Reality at Google.

As vice president of product management, Bavor oversaw a number of the search company's key apps, including Gmail, Google Drive and Google Docs, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Technology news website Re/code, which first reported Bavor's appointment, said his earlier role would now be taken over by senior vice president Diane Greene.

Google had been toying with virtual reality but this was the first time it had dived into the technology. Google announced a partnership with action-camera maker GoPro, in May last year, to enable 360 degree view in virtual reality, using a new technology that Google had developed.

The company said last November, its video-sharing site YouTube supported virtual reality video, which could be viewed using a cellphone and Google Cardboard viewer.

Meanwhile, Facebook's 2014 acquisition, Oculus, had started accepting pre-orders for its much-awaited virtual reality headset, Rift, set to ship in Q1.

According to commentators, Google had always been pro-virtual reality. They cite the Google Cardboard, its VR platform and the GoPro partnership announced at I/O last year and the Camera app that lets users create VR 3D images. They say the move by Google was not entirely surprising as Bavor had been overseeing the Cardboard project.

They add, with a new team setup just to look at virtual reality, some big news coming up the virtual reality way may be expected at the Google I/O 2016, as the company ramps up its software for VR devices.