Virtually Endless
Virtual reality, if you have had the opportunity to try it out, has been said to be one of the most rapidly growing industries out there and will be the future of gadget technology. But if you are like myself, and have not had the chance, it will only be a matter of time. It was said that in 2016, the number of mobile VR users reached nearly 18 million worldwide. That number is expected to increase to 53 million by the end of 2017 and 135 million users by 2020.
In the same family of VR comes AR (augmented reality) and MR (mixed reality). While all reality altering technology changes the way we perceive the world in some way, it is nice to note the differences between the three.
Merriam-Webster defines VR as “an artificial environment which is experienced through sensory stimuli (as sights and sounds) provided by a computer and in which one's actions partially determine what happens in the environment."
How one interacts with this environment (usually with a headset) depends on the platform in use. The best way to think of VR is that it’s a completely separate/artificial world meaning nothing is real and everything is virtual. Tom’s, the California based shoe company has been using VR to market through the art of storytelling. They use a headset to transport guests to a remote village in Peru where they experience an emotion filled 'giving trip' in order to better understand Tom’s mission.
AR then, takes your existing reality and changes aspects of it through a piece of technology. Using a set of glasses, a smartphone or a headset, you see what is in front of you but with virtual layer added on top. For example, Yelp has used AR to create a feature called Monocle,
where you hold your phone up to see reviews and information about nearby businesses. Using the camera to show what is happening around you and an overlay of information on the screen.
MR as defined on the web is "the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualizations where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time” or in other words, the ability to mix digitally rendered objects into our real environment. Probably the most popular device in this area is the Microsoft HoloLens which can scan the room and understand the space so it can mix in digital objects to the existing environment.
But why are companies investing? Simply because it’s the next big thing, so big over time AR devices will totally replace the iPhone, says one expert in the industry. Apple CEO, Tim Cook even said last year we will all “have AR experiences every day, almost like eating three meals a day. It will become that much a part of you”. Companies like Apple do not really have a choice, when predictions say AR products will surge 80% to $165 billion by 2024.
In terms of marketing, companies will have to continue, and even reinvent the type of interactive content that is present on mobile and desktop today. A great example of this is The New York Times, who have pioneer’s VR story telling. In 2015, they distributed over 1 million Google Cardboard glasses to Sunday subscribers and produced a film, The Displaced to be viewed with them. They did not stop thereafter, and managed to do the same thing with a series of stories.
A great source of VR news I happened to find is VR Scout. This is where I first learned of the potential of this technology for the airline industry. Training cabin crews and engineers from anywhere, using the HoloLens via a holographic coach or an interactive 3D virtual system. The possibilities are virtually endless.