The past two years, Virtual Reality (VR) has been on the news from Facebook Oculus, Samsung VR headsets, Playstation VR, just to mention some companies that have been at the forefront of this technology or at least the ones that have gotten more attention to it. Even though the technology was first invented in 1957 and was patented until 1962 was first introduce as "The Sensorama" a heavy machine that allowed users to immerse with multi-sensory technology. This had a viewing screen within an enclosed booth which displayed stereoscopic images, oscillating fans, speakers and a devices which emitted smells.
Since then, technology has evolved, information processor chips, performance and operation has increased strongly and today we have more opportunities to interact with many different companies and potentially industries that could develop further to deliver experiences and educational opportunities or make important profits are of it.
There are many industries today developing applications to benefit the their industries, minimize cost and avoid risks. For example some industries taking this technology to the next level are: the military, where soldiers can train on flight simulation, battlefield simulation, medic training, vehicle simulation to mention some, another is the industry of entertaining where you can experience virtual museums, e.g. interactive exhibitions, galleries, theatre, e.g. interactive performances, virtual theme parks, discovery centres as the retail Samsung store in New York, where you can experience surfing, amusement park rides, flying, to mention some. Another important industry is the education, where you can teach in a totally experiential way to children, adults or anyone, playing with their senses getting a much better learning process. More industries that are looking into this technology are healthcare, sports, construction, fashion, films, gaming, media, languages to mention some so we can expand the potential and opportunity for it.
Now that we have a better understanding of what we can do with it and some of the industries, if you take a look at who is owning the VR industry there aren't many players. In fact, we have Facebook, Google, Microsoft Hololens, Magic Leap, HTC vive, Samsung gear, Marxist labs, Sony Playstation, to mention some of the most relevant. However, the most interesting part is that we are talking about some of the same dominant companies that are getting into many industries changing the business models. Facebook a social network company that owns Oculus the VR division that could potentially have an impact on other companies that are in industries that they thought did not compete with them. Google, same story where they started as a search engine, they have destroyed companies that had GPS as their core, by leveraging on a single platform, the smart phone (now they also own a brand of smart phones because of the future dependance of it "Pixel"). In fact, if we take these companies today and visualize VR as a potential entertaining tool (can you imagine Netflix launching all their original content in VR and you be part of it), or traveling without traveling. Today business are being impacted by industries that 10 years back did not even existed, and not only do they need to consider them as a threat, more than that, some of those companies would not exist shortly or they already have disappeared. How are we evaluating the potential impact that some of the technology companies and the developments they are making would transform the industries as we know them today?, how open are business managers to evaluate and take the risk to change their business models?.
Today we see our smart phones as an extension of our arms, if we would have the option of having a VR experience will riding your Uber or living some experiences that you would not have been able to experience in real life such as your kids school performance, or not been able to go outside for a run, picture (or see the image) you deciding to run in London and the treadmill been able to increase in an uphill, simulate your speed, hear the wind, track your pace and with all that you can see every single detail in the street in London that you decide to run, would that become normal, if you can be there and even interact, or what would happen to our kids or the generation that is growing with these technology, experience it from early stages, evolve with it or get this as an escape from where they are now and more where they chose to be or be more willing to live in or experience? Are these are some futuristic behaviors or are we already seeing them as a potential evolution.
Oculus
PS4 VR Playstation
Samsung Gear
VR running
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