Just the right time to dive in XR industry
Last week, on March 25, I started my first XR-class at New York University. Here is the post on the first assignment for this class which was “to read two recently released XR industry reports and pick three different statements, statistics, or other insights into the XR industry that surprise or inspire you”.
Well, that’s tricky because, being an artist at heart, I am also still a marketing person on the surface. I am the one who used to write such reports and because of that also used to be very skeptical about them.
However, ironically enough, it feels like a very wrong time to be skeptical about XR right now. My best guess is that it’s the only market that might actually benefit and boost from the pandemic. So, below are some quotes that got my attention in this week’s readings, with my comments.
“A year ago, executives were still seeking use cases to prove to leadership that enterprise XR was worth the investment. Twelve months on and those use cases are much clearer. The universe is expanding beyond the rarefied environments of healthcare and heavy industry into a wide range of sectors. Enterprise XR is going mainstream”.
I bet that all optimistic numbers on potential investments and profits in this field, mentioned in both reports, should be at least doubled.
“Automobile manufacturers are constantly trying to wow their audiences”.
I feel like the potential of the XR for marketing will lose its appeal very soon since new time is so obviously not about marketing anymore. What if such expressions as “ creating captivating experiences” will soon be totally unnecessary because of VR and all the other extensions becoming simply vital for people to fight isolation? In other words, I believe that the need and demand for VR-projects will surpass the necessity to convince people that VR’s cool, for the first time in history, all over the world.
“…combines wearables (e.g. Google GlassTM), Machine-Vision, and Augmented Reality to guide plant operators in performing complex tasks right the first time”.
Here I was thinking of the potential of VR in training doctors before they approach the person infected with the coronavirus. It doesn’t seem absurd after watching a video of the doctors covering themselves with the layers of defense. It’s the most complex task of the decade, I guess.
“The game has been built using Virtual Reality technology to help patients suffering from Alzheimer’s., creating a virtual environment, where the patients are offered a daily task. Successful completion of a task results in some kind of reward, motivating patients to continue”.
Here I thought of the people that are now isolated because they got infected and are slowly recovering. First of all, they are still isolated. Second, traumatized and scared. Third, probably stigmatized in the future. What if some XR-experience could help?
“AR smart utility that enables an iPhone user to measure any real world object using the phone’s camera. The app gives the most accurate measurements within no time”.
“Don’t touch!” and “don’t come closer!” seem to be the motto of the past few months that changed the world. Any device or software that might help avoid touching things looks very inspiring to me.
“Marker-based and Marker-less 360 Walkthrough of Real Estate Projects, Virtual Reality for Real Estate Projects”.
The less you leave your home, even looking for a new one, the better.
Last but not least, hardware. In both reports, there is a certain concern about how VR-hardware that should be literally mounted on the user’s head is still not user-friendly. I was just wondering if this universally acknowledged truth will also be reconsidered in the nearest future because of the obvious advantage of glasses and headsets— they COVER your eyes and maybe even mouth (not sure but probably some of those exist?) better than any mask.
I also thought that vice-versa technology like the one on the picture below, a smart contact lens with AR will probably leg behind because people will avoid touching their eyes for no good reason with bare hands for a quite a long time.
To conclude, I must admit that some of the examples that we discussed in the first class were even more inspiring to me than any numbers from the market researches. Below are some of the screenshots that prove that XR and VR are doing their job of taking people to different worlds quite efficiently. And that will be a high-demand product in our new reality, for sure.
