- October 27, 2015
- Categories: Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Wearable Technology
It's always interesting to watch the evolution of a new technological space. How the companies that have embraced and focused on that single idea are now blossoming into producing very viable products. One fo those technologies that business are using now SEO in their websites, but what is SEO?. I've been watching the development of AR and VR quite a bit and it's interesting to see how some of the larger tech' "power houses" (Google, Facebook, Microsoft) are now aligning themselves in preparation for it's potential mainstream adoption.
Microsoft was pretty quick to announce it's work on HoloLens and Facebook made a very public announcement of it's acquisition of Oculus VR.
Two other AR companies I've been really excited to see progression with are Meta's "Space Glasses" and Magic Leap. The later of which has recently been supported with huge investment and interest from Google and more recently rumor of potential backing from Alibaba.
I think there is a very strong consensus that, AR specifically, could replace and/or compliment traditional desktops and that larger tech' companies have been watching start ups from afar to see which one's offered the most promise and real-world application. There is a natural marriage between Google Glass and Magic Leap and with Google committed to the Enterprise with Google App's it makes sense that they would want to compete with Microsoft on AR turf.
In terms of investing, 3D printing demonstrated that new tech' should be approached with caution. Stratasys and Makerbot (and their subsequent merger) tried to exemplify that this technology has real applications and growth potential, but unfortunately that just isn't being realized at the minute. I do foresee a day when 3D printers will be as common in residential applications as inkjet and laser printers are today, but just not right now.
With AR though; I feel like something is different, that there is a huge driving force to realize this technology. Just as Military and Space Programs have traditionally been the main drivers of technological innovation I feel that, subjectively and with any opinion aside, online pornography will be a huge catalyst in propelling, specifically, VR technology mainstream.
AR could be totally transformative in how we use technology today. I'm pretty excited to see how this "space" plays out.