In my attempt to understand what commercial services are enabled by various Immersive Technologies, and which role-player generally offers it I created the matrix attached to this article. Perhaps it may help somebody considering career options in this field or consultancies trying to find out what services are currently possible.
The available services are at various stages of maturity; most in the early / experimentation stages. According to Gartner’s latest Hype Circle for Emerging Tech, Augmented and Virtual Reality technologies are still 5 to 10 years away from mainstream adoption.
Advertising firms aren’t waiting. Many are running augmented reality campaigns that use a users smartphone. While mature VR headset solutions haven’t been released to the market yet (accept for the smartphone based solutions), many hardware manufacturers have already released SDK’s to allow developers to start experimenting and creating content. Here’s some examples or ideas of what commercial applications are currently possible with augmented reality.
Cheaper, integrated 360-Camera solutions are now available and many organisations are experimenting with it. I’m keen to find out what storytelling-method will work best with 360-videos.
Utilising Ncam Live 7D technology the Weather Channel recently tried out a form of immersive storytelling. Although it’s broadcast for 2D television I’m sure you can see the potential with VR or AR.
An example of a 360 Music Video:
The Samsung Gear VR trailer takes you on a journey through beautiful landscapes around the world:
These solutions are cool but I’m not sure if I could enjoy 15 minute+ videos continuously rotating my headset to smartphone. I’m wondering if interactive 360 videos controlled by a single user who takes an audience located within a full-dome or CAVE (cave automatic virtual environment) would be a better use than lone-user solutions. e.g. War correspondents or adventurers collectively takes an audience on an immersive recollection of their journey at various forms.
As time progresses I’m pretty sure more services will be on offer from more role-players (e.g. health professionals specializing in treating patients with Immersive Reality addiction). If I’ve got something wrong or left something out of the matrix please let me know. I’ll update it.
To explore further opportunities with Immersive Tech checkout VRFavs – a directory of VR sites all exploring this field.