Part 2
VR’s recent advancements are impressive. Nowadays brands like Facebook, Google, Sony, HTC, Lenovo invest in new technologies and launch VR equipment for unforgetable VR experiences. Light headsets, comfortable, with an ease of setup and flexible promise to transfer us in exceptional VR environments where we will experience games, shopping, travel, education, work in a very immersive way.
As we have mentioned before in a previous article (με συνδεσμο που θα οδηγει στο αρθρο με τιτλο The history of VR is longer than you might think and its future brighter! Part1), Virtual Reality’s journey started back in 1838 with the invention of the first Stereoscope. In the mid-1980 Jaron Lanier developed VR’s equipment goggles and gloves and gave birth to the term “Virtual Reality”.
Even if the decade 1970-1980 was a crucial one for VR mainly due to haptic devices and optical advancements, nobody could have imagined what the new millennium would bring!
Milestones of Contemporary VR devices
In 2010 contemporary VR devices emerged with the design of the first prototype of the Oculus Rift. Facebook acquired Oculus for $2bn in 2014! Between 2014 and 2017 console-tethered (e.g. Sony’s VR headset for its PS4 console) and mobile-tethered (e.g. Samsung GearVR and Google Cardboard) headsets replaced the PC-tethered headsets (e.g. the HTC Vive).
Oculus Rift. Source: https://www.oculus.com/rift/
Apple could’ t stay inactive. It awarded the patent for a head-mounted display apparatus in 2015. In 2016 Sony PlayStation VR (PSVR) was released, and in 2017 Microsoft launched its VR-ready games console and headset “Xbox One X”.
2018: Facebook releases Oculus Go headset and optimizes its camera-loaded glasses for social VR
2018: Lenovo’s Mirage Solo is available. It is the first standalone headset running Google Daydream. Immersive VR experience without a separate PC or smartphone.
Lenovo Mirage Solo with Daydream. Source: lenovo.com
Untethered headsets Oculus Go, Lenovo Mirage Solo, and HTC Vive Focus transform VR into an independent platform!
2019: Sonny announces that it had sold more than four million PSVR headsets, while in
2021: According to PwC more than 85 million VR headsets will be in use in China
The future is to be seen with VR headsets!
Virtual Reality changes the art and entertainment industries and affects the way children play, people work, travel, shop, learn, co-operate and exercise. Supported by 5G networks, cloud-based VR gaming will increase by 2023.
“The VR market revenue is expected to swell to over $12 billion by 2024”
“66% of consumers are interested in VR shopping experiences”
Sony Playstation VR headset. Source https://www.playstation.com/el-gr/ps-vr/
VR headsets are going to become a popular toy for children as Mcdonald’s turned Happy Meal boxes into Happy Goggles. Kids not only are experiencing something meaningfully new, but they are also relating to technology in a fresh way.
“We try to bring education to our Happy Meals, and the answer was a kind of staring us in the face,” says Jeff Jackett, marketing director for McDonald’s Sweden. Since 2016, Coca-Cola has also created its Virtual Reality Viewer, made from recycled cardboard. More and more tech companies discover ways to incorporate VR into exercise activities in order to enhance physical activity.
Considering these facts, it becomes more clear why we expect the VR market revenue to swell to over $12 billion by 2024!
training & keeps adding value to modern life”
According to statista.com, the industry is growing at a fast pace, with the Global VR market size projected to increase from less than five billion U.S. dollars in 2021 to more than 12 billion U.S. dollars by 2024, while a report by Global Industry Analysts concluded that, virtual technology in the medical profession would have reached the $3.8 billion by 2020.
Photo: statista.com
Given this expansion, virtual technology will further transform the healthcare industry. Applications will range from training healthcare professionals to diagnosing and treating various conditions. Actually, we will experience the use of VR in a range of industries, like sports, education, military, tourism, fashion, and business. VR’s future is very prominent