Extended reality
When fiction gets real.
The breakdown
Extended reality is an umbrella term for three big technologies who are extending our reality, hence the term. Those three being virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality.
Virtual reality being the full immersion into a virtual world and augmented reality placing a virtual layer over the real world. But mixed reality is where the magic happens, virtually placing objects into the real world and letting real and virtual things interact.
Virtual reality
This one started mainly in the gaming world, taking gaming to another level by literally placing the user into the game and giving him full immersion. The user can look around in 360 degrees and interact with the environment. This is one of the brightest trends right now in the tech consumer world. Having big market growth every single year and having no signs of slowing down. This is shown by Sony’s Playstation VR selling 4.2 million copies in 2019 and the monthly connected headsets on Steam (the biggest PC gaming platform) skyrocketing the last few years. These numbers are very impressive given these headsets range between 400–1000 euros. So consumers are really showing interest, as the total market share is expected to reach 22.9 billion by the end of 2020.
The only burden virtual reality still has, is selling the experience to the consumer. As it is such a unique concept normal advertising really doesn’t do it justice. You have to experience it to really know what it’s about. But when you do (or if you already have) you know why it’s so ground breaking. Gaming isn’t the only market VR is having an impact on though. With music producers like Netsky offering you a way to experience their concerts from the comfort of your home. As well as projects like LittleStar who offer a platform to experience TV and Movies in a more immersive way. With big names like National Geographic, Discovery Channel and BBC creating VR content for it. So the way we experience our entertainment is changing gradually with the power of VR and the applications for it are growing exponentially.
Mixed reality
Perhaps the most intriguing one of the three, literally mixing the virtual world with the real. Mixed reality is the one furthest in the future to really break through. It might not be mass consumer ready yet, but we can already see all of its potential.
Using a mixture between your environment and virtual objects or information. Mixed reality can really enhance our day to day lives. Whether it’s displaying cooking instructions and recipes above your cooking island or a virtual television conveniently displayed on an empty wall. The possibilities are endless. There are lots of useful applications in the business world to. Architects can scale and change 3D building plans. The medical sector is also an important one. Enhancing surgical operations by providing real time information can be crucial in saving human lives.
When computers have the ability to understand the real world, really powerful things can happen.
So companies and people can really benefit from using the power of mixed reality. Daily tasks can be performed with a lot more efficiency, drastically increasing productivity. Being such a new technology, we can’t really give accurate predictions for the future. The pricing is still a big issue with the HoloLens coming in at 3.500 euros and there’s still a lot of room for improvement. But one thing is for certain, we have not seen the last of this.
Augmented reality
The most easy technology of the three, is augmented reality. It simply displays a virtual layer over the real world. So unlike mixed reality it doesn’t interact with anything real. Being the easiest technology it does not require much processing power and is mostly used on mobile devices. The biggest AR success story so far is by far Pokémon Go. A location based application which uses AR let you catch Pokémon all over the world. Consumers absolutely embraced their first experience with AR technology as Pokémon Go has the highest ever money spent per user ratio ever for a mobile game. Showing people are willing to splash the cash for AR based applications.
Given the relatively low development cost of AR and tangible proof that consumers are willing to spend on AR based apps. It can be very beneficial for companies to get in on the act. Unlike VR and MR no expensive headset is required to run the applications as any mobile phone is capable enough. This is a big advantage as the mobile market is the biggest gaming market on the planet.
Aside from gaming there’s still plenty of exciting things going on with AR. Like Google pushing their Google maps app to a new level by overlaying route instructions when looking through your phone’s camera lens.
Lastly, one of the most famous AR implementations every one knows and loves are those Snapchat and Instagram lenses. Blending your face with a cute animal we have all done it once in our lives.
The future
Whether it’s VR, MR or AR they all have bright futures in front of them. The market projections look very good. However VR and MR still have some burdens in front of them in terms of trying to lower the price of headsets. But both companies as well as consumers benefit from these technologies doing well. Exciting times ahead for tech lovers that’s for sure.
