It may seem quite hard to believe, but 3D/Augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) have been around for more than 30 years in the market and is still growing. These technologies found their initial applications in these area military aircraft arena, with Pilot Head-Mounted Displays, flight simulations and later in entertainment and gaming.
Due to extremely high development costs, the complexities of 3D/AR/VR devices and other challenges that they have faced, these technologies haven't found their way into the commercial world until recently. 3D/Augmented and virtual reality may offer different experiences, but they are currently delivered in very similar ways. So, how close are we to mass adoption?
3D/Augmented and virtual reality Technology Trends Survey, technology and business stakeholders indicated that consumer use of 3D/AR/VR will see adoption first. Most importantly, 69% of respondents believe 3D/AR/VR will become mainstream within five years. These technologies show great promise indeed.
3D/Augmented and virtual reality Technology: Where are We Now?
More than a decade ago, the first real smartphone hit the market and made screens an essential ingredient of our lives. As a result, it has changed how we communicate, work, travel, purchase and more.
Today, a third of American households have three or more smartphones. We are constantly surrounded by screens. It is almost impossible to escape them.
Yet when the first validation of consumer augmented reality use came from Pokémon Go, nobody had thought about AR experiences or applications on a smartphone. Pokémon Go successfully validated the consumer mass adoption of augmented reality.
Since Pokémon Go's initial launch in 2016, new smartphone implementations have been unveiled. While companies like Snapchat and Facebook have found entertaining ways to deliver AR experiences on social media platforms, others like Wayfair has developed apps to assist customers with online purchasing decisions. In this recent example, the Wayfair app gives consumers the ability to visualize furniture in their own home, simply by holding up their smartphone in a room or area. This helps alleviate part of the fear consumers experience when shopping online for big items, such as furniture. It provides an added convenience.
Smartphones, coupled with headsets, have been the most common use of delivering VR experiences for a few years now. This has been the most accessible entry-point for consumer VR use. Virtual reality is a lot more mature than the existing augmented reality market. The required software tools and hardware platforms to create immersive VR experiences are already available. With the availability of more advanced systems such as the Oculus Rift, coupled with 360 cameras, virtual reality experiences are quickly finding new avenues into our lives.
Virtual reality is showing some effective industry use-cases as well, from real estate applications to tourism. On a recent trip to Israel, I witnessed the Jerusalem Visitor’s Bureau using VR to immerse tourists in how the city looked 5,000 years ago. These types of innovative VR experiences are unveiling in industries worldwide.
Although augmented reality is less mature than virtual reality due to technology limitations, lack of standardization and a higher price tag, it is already being utilized in industries including manufacturing, healthcare and logistics. Augmented reality experiences are typically delivered through headsets, such as Meta, ODG, Vuzix and HoloLens, and are showing early signs that the technology is set to transform commercial and industrial markets. However, there is still work to be done before these technologies can reach mainstream adoption.
0 Comments