Are you looking for ways to stay constantly updated with the latest news about the extended reality? In this case, we can recommend you some captivating AR and VR podcasts, if you like to listen to audio news and interviews.
Previously, we wrote an article about trendy VR YouTube channels.
VR Download
YouTube XR podcast by Upload VR is published twice a week — on Mondays and Thursdays. VR Download is also available in audio format on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and other streaming services.
The main host of the podcast is Kyle Riesenbeck, Operational Manager at Upload VR.
The podcast has two main directions:
- Weekly news podcast issues, which are usually released on Mondays at noon PST. Riesenbeck with other co-hosts discusses the latest updates in hardware development and current XR industry trends.
- Gamescast issues, which are released every Thursday at 10:30 PST (20:30, according to Kyiv time). In Gamecast, the hosts discuss the recently-released VR games, narrated experiences, etc.
An interesting fact: the podcast is fully recorded in virtual reality and the hosts themselves use digital avatars via Oculus Avatars SDK.
The AR Show
It’s an augmented reality podcast that collaborates with AR Insider and, primarily, highlights the latest tendencies of smart glasses development. Every The AR Show issue is released, at least, once a week, and is available for listening and downloading right on the podcast’s official site.
The AR Show host Jason McDowell is Ostendo Technologies VP Product, Head of Visual Experience, and Amplify.LA mentor.
McDowell believes that AR glasses will have a much bigger impact on a human and the community than smartphones, PC, or the internet. He thinks smart glasses can transform the human brain-physical world interaction and reduce the time of searching the information on the spot.
In every podcast issue, the host interviews company representatives that develop smart glasses and other AR-related technologies. They discuss various implementations of augmented reality in education, sport, healthcare, etc.
In addition, AR Insider and Upload VR are included in the list of online media we recommend reading.
Ruff Talk VR
It is a virtual reality podcast about games that comes out, at least, once-twice a week. You can listen to the podcast on the Ruff Talk VR site and on many streaming services, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, iHeartRadio, etc. The podcast is also available on YouTube in video format.
The Ruff Talk VR hosts are bloggers-enthusiasts, known by nicknames Dscruffles (son) and Stratus2k1 (father).
In every issue, the hosts review the latest VR games and other apps from Oculus Store and App Lab. Dscruffles and Stratus2k1 explain gameplay and discuss every advantage and disadvantage of the reviewed game with small miscellaneous talks. In the end, the hosts announce the final review score.
The Ruff Talk VR hosts also interview game developers and post VR morning news issues every Monday.
Everything AR & VR
A weekly VR/AR Association podcast that is available on VR/AR Association website and other streaming platforms like Apple Podcasts.
The hosts of Everything AR & VR are Tyler Gates and Sophia Moshasha. Gates is a Brightline Interactive General Manager, Chief Futurist at the Glimpse Group, and VRARA DC Chapter President. Sophia Moshasha is a metaverse and Web 3.0 strategist and DC Chapter Vice President VRARA.
The podcast hosts interview technologists and companies representatives regarding their working experience in virtual and augmented reality in different fields like games, entertainment, healthcare, education, military, hardware and software development, etc. Everything AR & VR guests and hosts also discuss the latest tendencies of XR development in governments and enterprises.
By the way, a few months ago, Qualium Systems officially joined the VR/AR Association, which currently unites more than 4300 organizations.
Voices Of VR
Voice Of VR is a weekly podcast about virtual and augmented reality development, founded in May 2014. The podcast is available on its official site and streaming platforms like Apple Podcasts.
The podcast host Kent Bye is a philosopher, experimental journalist, and oral historian, that tries to define patterns of immersive storytelling, experimental design, and the potential of extended reality development in general.
In every issue, Bye interviews various developers, storytellers, designers, and other specialists, that work on XR and related technologies like metaverse, for example. The podcast also covers discussions of the latest news of hardware and software development.
Full Dive Gaming: a Virtual Reality Podcast
Full Dive Gaming is one of the virtual reality news podcasts available on different streaming services, like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer, etc. The podcast is also available on YouTube as a video channel.
In every Full Dive Gaming issue, blogger Jay Bratt highlights the latest virtual reality news. Usually, Bratt discusses the news with the hosts of other podcasts.
The podcast is divided into three sections: VR gaming news, game reviews, and VR games-related discussions.
Field of View Podcast
Field of View Podcast is a project of non-profitable VR/AR/MR organization AIXR (The Academy of International Extended Reality), developed in collaboration with Accenture.
You can listen to every issue on a podcast webpage on the academy site. Field of View Podcast is also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and on YouTube. You can also find the podcast transcription on Accenture site.
Daniel Colaianni and Nicola Rosa are the hosts of the podcast. Colaianni is AIXR CEO, and Rosa is XR Lead Europe and Immersive Learning Lead in Accenture.
The podcast main topics are metaverse, virtual and augmented reality, web 3.0, and other technologies. Rosa and Colaianni periodically interview representatives from worldwide-known companies like Disney, HTC, Audi, NVIDIA, etc.
In one of the latest issues, the hosts talked to Louis Rosenberg about artificial intelligence in metaverse. You can find his article about metaverse potential in our previous article.
Companies can increase their income and the number of new customers and sales. And they can do it with established proper communication with customers, and customers trust the company.
Modern technologies play a crucial role in strategy formation. If online sales entered our lives a long time ago and become a common thing, XR technologies are just slowly integrating into routine. But extended reality already sparkles interest in both customers and companies. WebXR is one of them. It allows using all the benefits of virtual and augmented reality through web browsers.
“When I was starting out, there weren’t a lot of people in the field. All of the cool kids in XR were telling me that the browser was dead,” event host Samantha Mathews said in her opening remarks. “But the web has a magical way of closing the gap between physical and virtual experiences … to me, the 3D web solves the problem of how flat the internet is”, said Samantha Mathews, CEO and CTO of LOCI.
In our new article, you will discover how WebXR is capable of improving your business and encouraging your customers to use your services. Successful use cases added.
What is WebXR
WebXR is a Web application programming interface that allows browsers to support virtual and augmented reality on a web page, with no requirement to download a native app. WebXR provides customers with access to immersive content regardless of devices they use: a smartphone, VR headset, PC, tablet, etc.
Virtual reality
VR in browsers is most often used for online games and virtual excursions. The web game Vivid, where VR headset user lights fireworks with sight is one of the WebXR VR examples.
Augmented reality
Augmented reality in WebXR uses images, QR codes, and physical objects as markers that activate AR and superimpose digital objects in the real world. WebAR also has the possibility to track face mimics and body movement which makes AR content more realistic. WebAR is constantly used for designing virtual try-on and makeup.
Here, you can read more about WebXR.
WebXR Advantages For Business
First of all, WebXR offers customers a new interesting, and immersive solution to see items in the way they would look in reality. Thus, digital technologies can make shopping more convenient and personalized.
According to RetailDive, 71% of zoomers want their shopping experience to be better personalized, plus 83% of them want their shopping to be more entertaining.
Read more about other WebXR advantages here.
WebXR Examples In Business
WebXR is a convenient format to design interactive advertisements and virtual try-on for digital versions of items before purchasing.
Useful WebAR Item Packages
WebAR packages is one of the digital solutions to facilitate product choice. These item packages offer customers some additional useful functions, including visualization of the food product ingredients, for example. WebAR packages can contain visuals of step-by-step recipes, some interesting facts about the product, entertaining elements, etc.
Using item packages like this, you can demonstrate a brand’s positive side, because a company with WebAR packaging creates additional value for customers, both useful and entertaining.
According to Salsify, 46% of customers said they would pay more to trusted brands.
For example, Asda Wagyu Steaks developed WebAR packages for ready-made steaks. Every package contains a QR code that activates AR demonstration of how and on what recipe a steak was cooked.
WebXR Content For Stores
Gamified immersive experiences can draw customers’ attention to your products and form positive associations. Web advertisements like this are effective if you demonstrate them right before your product was purchased.
According to statistics, brand recognition is increased by 70% when they use augmented reality to encourage their customers.
For example, Kinder developed a WebAR experience for children in supermarkets. To activate the experience, you can find a QR code flyer on store shelves. After you scan the code on a smartphone, the virtual portal to Africa with animals opens. This experience has entertaining and educating functions because a child learns new facts about every African animal.
Virtual Try-On For Fashions
Virtual try-on is another technology that is already used in retail. It gives a customer the possibility to try on an item’s digital version before buying, thus increasing the number of purchases and reducing the number of returns. According to Shopify, the number of returns was reduced by 40% after the AR try-on implementation.
Moreover, virtual try-on gives clients the possibility to customize an item and show how it would look in the physical world. According to ThreeKit, 40% of customers said they were ready to pay more for an item with the possibility to customize it in AR.
Qualium Systems has its own AR Glasses Fitting App, which we also transferred to WebXR. More information about the app is available here.
Virtual Makeup in WebXR
Cosmetics testing with modern technologies provides a better understanding of what lipstick or eyeshadow color fits customers most during online shopping. So, more than 44% of beauty and health purchases in America were made through the web.
Cosmetics brand Perfect Corp. developed its own virtual makeup, where you can try on digital lipstick, foundations, eyeshadow, and other decorative cosmetics items, using a web camera.
A year ago, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company developed virtual makeup try-on right in their stores, where clients could test cosmetics with no need to take their masks off. That’s a bright example of how brands can adapt to the surrounding restrictions.
In one of our previous articles about extended reality in retail, we wrote about virtual try-on and makeup.
WebXR Furniture Testing
Choosing furniture and home decor for a real interior with digital immersive technologies prevents the purchase of physical items that didn’t suit a customer because of the wrong size or color.
According to David Sobie, Happy Returns co-founder and CEO, 15% to 40% of purchases came from customers who bought items online.
Mazing XR developed a WebAR app that allows placing digital furniture and home decor right into the physical interior.
How WebXR Facilitates Food Ordering
WebXR also found its place in restaurants and food delivery. Due to the fact that AR projections show the dish and its ingredients before ordering, customer service in restaurants gets improved, because clients have a clearer understanding of the food they order.
Some WebAR apps also contain the dish customization function. That means a client can see how, for example, a burger would look like without sauce or greenery.
Cavalli Club Restaurant & Lounge developed an AR menu that allows customers to see how a chosen dish will look like on their plates. They can also zoom in on a digital image to see more details of the order.
In our article about AR tourism, you can read about how augmented reality improves restaurant work.
Now you found out more about using WebXR in different business fields, including retail and advertisement. This technology is just gaining popularity in business, but it already offers a personalized and entertaining shopping experience. Interactive advertisements right in a store can draw more customers’ attention to your product. And online shopping can be facilitated with technologies like virtual try-on, virtual makeup, AR projections of furniture and dishes.
According to National Eye Institute, in average, every twelfth person in the world has one of types of color blindness. So, there are, at least, 300 million people who live with this deviation.
When you should convey some information, using, for example, colored charts, it can become a problem. Visual content simplifies the perception of information, but, in this case, you may not do colorblind people a favor.
In our article, we selected five other article, that can tell you about the key moments you should consider when creating visual content for people with color blindness.
What Is Color Blindness
According to Wikipedia, color blindness or color vision deficiency is congential or acquired decreased ability to see some colors or differences in color. People with color blindness have difficulties to recognize the color on traffic lights, puzzles, color-oriented games etc.
There are two types of color blindness:
- Partial — when human eye can’t see certain colors. There are most popular types of partial color blindness: protanopia (warped perception of red shades), deuteranopia (human eye can’t see green shades), and tritanopia (warper perception of blue and violet shades). According to Ali Levine, the author of True Colors: Optimizing Charts for Readers with Color Vision Deficiencies article, if a person can’t see, for example, red color, it influences other colors too.
“A common misconception among those who are not colorblind is that if someone has red/green color blindness, they only have trouble with the colors red and green. However, these deficiencies can easily affect other colors as well; for instance, maroon and brown can look identical to people with red/green color deficiencies… after all, maroon is just brown with a touch of red. In other words, it is not just the colors red and green themselves, but also those colors within other colors,” wrote Levine.
- Full — when human eye can’t see colors at all and perceives the world around monochrome. Basically, a person with deviation like this sees the world as a black-white movie.
How You Can Visualize Data For Colorblind People
Here, you can read five interesting articles about the most effective solutions for colorblind-friendly visual content:
The Best Charts For Colorblind Viewers
This is the article by Ivan Kilin, Visual Data Specialist, that contains detailed information about, how colorblind people see and what color palettes are the most suitable for them. Also, the material has a lot of examples of colorblind-friendly charts and palettes.
The source: https://www.datylon.com/blog/data-visualization-for-colorblind-readers
True Colors: Optimizing Charts for Readers with Color Vision Deficiencies
Clear and interesting aforementioned article by Ali Levine. The author writes about color blindness and describes effective ways to create data visualizations for colorblind people. Also, Levine mentions special apps and simulators that recreate the vision of people with color blindness. Coblis is the one of examples of these simulators, and you can find the link to the program in the article itself.
The source: https://itstraining.wichita.edu/optimize_for_vision_deficiencies/
How to Use Color Blind Friendly Palettes to Make Your Charts Accessible
The article by Rachel Gravit describes the ways to make your visual content more inclusive. You can thus make your pie chart more understandable for colorblind people using bright contrasting colors, monochromatic color palette or different ornaments to highlight segments of pie chart.
The source: https://venngage.com/blog/color-blind-friendly-palette/#5
Why Your Data Visualizations Should Be Colorblind-friendly
The article by developer Leoni Monigatti tells about the matter of color and the way every person sees colors, depending on type of color blindness. This article in not about pie charts only, there’s some useful information about any other types of data visualization.
The source: https://towardsdatascience.com/is-your-color-palette-stopping-you-from-reaching-your-goals-bf3b32d2ac49
Contrast and Color
It’s the article by Maureen A. Duffy from Vision Aware, an online media for those who have vision deviations. The author briefly describes the principles of making right color decisions in design. Duffy recommends paying attention to bright and contrasting colors, because they are suitable for people with color blindness. Colors like blue, yellow, violet, and green are hard to see for colorblind people.
The source: https://visionaware.org/everyday-living/home-modification/contrast-and-color/
We hope this article was useful for you. The approaches to creating colorblind-friendly visuals will make your visual data more inclusive and understandable for customers and colleagues that can’t see and distinguish some colors.
Today, extended reality becomes a highly demanded trend among online service providers. There are two options of XR use for business purposes: native and WebXR apps. But which way fits your business best? And which advantages of native apps and WebXR should you pay attention to? The answer in our new article.
Briefly About Extended Reality
To understand what WebXR actually is, you should get acquainted with the concept of extended reality and its types: virtual, augmented, and mixed reality. You can read more about their main features and differences here.
WebXR And How It Works
After you figured out the basic concepts of extended reality, it’s time to discover WebXR. WebXR is a web application programming interface that allows developers to design VR/AR/MR apps for browsers. With WebXR, a user can get digital immersive content with VR headsets, smart glasses, smartphones, tablets, PC, and other devices.
Some gadget users may prefer WebXR because it gives them such advantages as:
- Instant access to XR content with no requirement for downloading applications. According to Forbes, 91% of respondents hate mobile app downloading and installation. This is due to the native apps taking much space in the device’s memory. Moreover, the installation and updating process can take up much time, depending on the complexity and size of an app.
- Extended reality content from any device with any operating system. Meanwhile, some native apps you can find on PlayMarket or AppStore may be incompatible with some device operating systems.
- For example, Qualium Systems designed a virtual office you can visit, using any XR-supportive gadget: smartphone, personal computer, VR headset, etc.
“Anyway, if we hadn’t developed a WebXR app, we would have designed the app for every platform. Even considering that we developed this app on Unity, which is a multi-platform engine, we would still have to spend approximately 20% more of our time adapting the application to every platform. So, WebXR fits better here because it’s a one-code base,” said Alex Volkov, head of XR department at Qualium Systems.
Here, you can read more about how virtual offices facilitate remote work.
- XR content processing speed on the web is quite enough to support the work of simple WebXR apps. That was one of the reasons Glasses Fitting App, the native AR app by Qualium Systems, was transferred to the web.
“When we were developing the native app, WebXR didn’t provide us with the possibility to design the application for the web. So, we developed it as a native one. The technology has improved, and now there is a possibility to recreate all functions in WebXR. WebXR is obviously more suitable since you just use the app with no need to download it,” said Alex Volkov.
More information about the Glasses Fitting App can be found here.
XR Native App And Its Advantages
A native app is a program with specific code that is designed especially for certain devices, operating systems, or platforms. As a rule, this app is downloaded on tablets, smartphones, VR headsets, or any kind of device. It is available on App Store and Google Play and requires periodical updates.
Native apps have some advantages over WebXR, including
- The functionality of native apps is better than in WebXR ones. Native apps have better graphics than WebXR and are capable to perform more complex tasks.
“Let’s assume an app can recognize a QR code, and you can draw some content on this QR code. It doesn’t matter, how good it will look, the mechanics are more important. And if we talk about a company that wants to create a virtual room interior, it’s necessary for this room to have smooth, decent graphics, and some good different measuring tools. So, in this case, you’d better have a native app, because WebXR won’t handle these tasks,” said Alex Volkov.
- Native apps are more interactive. A significant number of apps with better graphics and functionality offer VR headset users more possibilities to interact with digital objects.
- Native apps provide access to XR content offline. For example, you can work with the AR app Pocket City by Skeiron with no Internet connection required. The app is downloaded using a QR code on a postcard you can buy in any local bookshop. Then, you open the app, point the device camera to the picture of a historical place, and activate a 3D version of the building and audio commentary. For instance, in this photo, you can see an AR mini-version of Lviv Jesuit Church.
WebXR Examples In Business
As it was mentioned before, WebXR is more suitable to perform simple tasks with minimal functions. Speaking about AR web apps, they can be useful in different business fields including:
- Retail. In WebXR, you can design virtual try-on for brands’ official sites or online shops. This program can track the shape of faces, interiors, bodies, etc. AR web app by Maybelline is one of these cases. A site visitor gives the app access to the camera and then can try on digital versions of cosmetic items before buying them.
The information about how similar AR apps can be useful in retail is available here.
- Advertising. WebXR can also be used for designing mascots and simple promos. For example, American beer brand Miller Lite developed an AR mascot that looks like a leprechaun. A smartphone user scans the label of a beer can, and then a digital leprechaun shows up and entertains the user with different tricks.
- Education. MoleculARweb is a WebAR site library that contains digital models of molecules and chemical formulas. To start, you should print, cut, and glue the cube-shaped marker. The scheme of it can be found and downloaded on the site. Using the marker and the device camera, you can activate AR objects and interact with them.
Speaking about WebXR-based VR apps, here are few examples of how you can use them.
- VR sightseeing. With WebXR, you can walk through the digital streets of Florence, Venice, Rome, and other Italian cities, using a smartphone, PC, or VR headset with a virtual excursion by BBC. The app uses the 360o photo.
- Marketing platform. H&M developed its own Innovation Metaverse Design Story platform as a part of its promo campaign for the latest collection. This experience is based on WebXR API Spatial, which allows every user to design their own virtual world, where people interact with customizable avatars. Before you choose a certain space, you need to sign in and pass a tutorial on how to walk, observe the virtual environment, and express emotions.
Now you see the difference between native apps and WebXR. On the one hand, native apps are more sophisticated and provide more possibilities to interact with the digital world. On the other hand, WebXR users can get instant access to XR content with no need to download an app. Finally, using WebXR apps, you can get immersive 3D content, not depending on the device and the operating system you use.
After COVID-19 negatively affected manufacturing, the industry is slowly coming back to normal. After all, we cannot ignore such factors as the shortage of skilled labor, the high cost of attracting new specialists, and quality employee training. These factors influence the current state of enterprises, and it’s vital for them to keep productivity and make a profit.
In today’s environment, more innovative ways of staff development are required. And these innovative solutions already exist. They are used by pioneering companies in the manufacturing field. It’s virtual reality that can help enterprises solve existing problems in employee training and give companies the advantages you will read about in our article.
VR Provides Realistic Experience
First of all, virtual reality provides a true-to-life training experience. Modern technologies allow for recreating a regular working environment, using photorealistic graphics and sounds.
For instance, manufacturing workers can improve their skills in VR Welding Training Simulator, a digital environment developed by Qualium Systems. According to Oleksii Volkov, head of XR department at Qualium Systems, the safety training app recreates the characteristics of exactly the same model of welding machine workers will have to deal with after they succeed in the training.
“Before being allowed to work with the welding machine, employees should pass safety training. These machines can have unique characteristics and different modifications. So, our app models all steps of handling the required welding machine from the beginning: how to connect the device, how to wear a mask, how to remove the safety lock, etc,” said Volkov.
How VR Reduces Turnover And Gives Confidence
A big number of manufacturing companies have always been using training methods, trying to reduce staff turnover and help new workers gain new skills. Respectively, there’s a new way to adapt employees and make them feel comfortable at their workplaces quickly.
VR can help the HR Department with it. Virtual reality training shortens the adaptation period. Let’s look at the example in the retail field: Walmart reduced training time by 96% with VR. It means, employees trained in VR headsets for only 15 minutes.
Employees gain new skills faster and feel more confident in a new workplace, as it was mentioned before. Thus, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, employees increased their confidence by 275% after VR training.
VR Training Is an Effective Way To Save Money
Another key reason why companies use VR training more and more often is the possibility of saving money. Before virtual reality became popular, enterprises had been preparing separate rooms and special equipment to train manufacturing employees, taking much time and money.
According to PricewaterHouseCoopers statistics, 23 million workplaces will have a possibility for virtual reality training by 2030.
Virtual reality can help companies save money, since:
1) Instead of special equipment, enterprises buy compact VR headsets. The cost of devices and software, basically, depends on customer needs.
“There are a lot of factors to consider. What we are training on, what’s our starting point of training, whether we are getting onsite filming, whether there is the need to recreate something computer-generated. So, there are a lot of factors, that come into play when determining the cost. But, the entry point has gotten considerably lower. I think organizations that may have been considering e-learning or a video may actually dip their toe in the water with VR. Because it takes less than 100 hundred dollars to do VR program,” – said Nick Day, Roundtable Learning VP of Sales.
2) You can also save money by reducing training time. In our previous article about drivers of XR development in business, we described how manufacturers save 30 dollars per working hour.
3) VR programs can save workers and equipment resources since companies don’t have to hire a particular employee and learn them to control the whole training process.
“You can engage as many employees in the training process as you need at the same time. It would be better to buy 300 dollars Oculus headset and design the app, than, for example, hire a mentor and allocate special equipment and time. We can just place a group of people in the same room, and they will train. It’s safe and there’s no risk to life, and you can watch the training. We can also design the app, that will record current results, and you can see, how many people both successful and unsuccessful attempts,” said Oleksii Volkov head of XR department at Qualium Systems.
Reduce The Number of Manufacture Errors and Accidents
Manufacture accidents cause serious financial losses due to equipment damage and full production halt. Moreover, employees can be seriously injured or even pass away. In 2020-2021, the number of work-related fatal injuries in the UK reached 123.
Thoughtful and consistent VR safety training can reduce the number of accidents and save company money. When employees do the same exercise multiple times in a digital environment that maximally recreates their usual workplace, they actively develop muscle memory. Actually, they hone their work to the point of automation in order to reduce future risks.
“For technical skills to be retained and to guide long-term behavior, they must be stored and represented in long-term memory. We must train for retention. The best way to train for retention is to allow learners to practice the new skill often and to perfection. This process requires periodic testing of their technical skill proficiency, followed by targeted retraining of skills that they have learned poorly or forgotten,” said PhD Todd Maddox and Peter Campbell in their article.
So, when Ford implemented virtual reality training, the number of manufacture accidents was reduced by 70%.
Our new case — Chemical Safety Training Simulator — allows employees who deal with dangerous substances to train in virtual reality with no risk to their life and health.
“We designed an app, which doesn’t allow an employee to train in their place but recreates the workplace in 3D. It allows them to learn safety rules step by step. For example, how to twist the valves and under what conditions you should twist them to achieve the needed effect,” said Oleksii Volkov, the head of XR department at Qualium Systems.
Virtual reality for manufacture training offers a lot of advantages for many modern companies. VR increases employees’ productivity and confidence in their skills. Moreover, VR training can help companies save money by reducing purchasing equipment costs and the number of accidents on manufacturers.
In 2021, the level of the use of extended reality grew up to 76% in gaming, 60% in movies and TV, 34% in retail, and 30% in tourism. Also, according to Markets and Markets, in the same year, the augmented reality market was estimated at 22,5 USD billion, and in 2026, the AR market will increase to 88,4 USD billion. Meanwhile, the virtual reality market was estimated at 6,1 USD billion in 2020 and is predicted to hit 20,9 USD billion in 2025.
The main trends that stimulate the development of the extended reality market are AR/VR startups’ financing by investors, and the growing number of fields where XR can be applied (healthcare, retail, education, architecture, design, etc). The obstacles caused by COVID-19 pandemic and companies’ need to save money for providing their services are also considered the drivers of the rapid development of XR technologies.
More detailed information about extended reality in different business fields can be found here.
COVID-19 As An Engine To Push XR Forward
Since COVID-19 started, many people were locked at their homes, away from workplaces. And business trips to other cities and countries became impossible during the lockdowns. However, people’s isolation from the outer world gave companies a possibility to implement innovative technologies, like augmented, mixed, and virtual reality, to provide remote work, online purchasing, VR conferences, etc.
In 2020, according to McKinsey & Company, the number of companies that adapted digital technologies increased to 58%, compared to 20% in 2017. Coronavirus pandemic made company executives implement digital technologies faster, because the digitalization of companies had not been their top priority before the pandemic.
During COVID-19, 93% of respondents implemented remote work. Other 62% of executives said they felt the increasing of customers’ demand for online purchasing. And other 21% of respondents said they started using more innovative technologies when taking important business decisions.
Vive Sync by HTC, a virtual network for business, is the bright example of transferring workers from the physical office to VR. This network was presented in April 2020 and was free for enterprises during the same year.
“As a social productivity device, Vive Sync is said to include support for OneDrive, which includes the ability to show PowerPoints, PDFs, marketing videos, or 3D models. In place of traditional note-taking, users will be able to use voice recognition to record notes, annotate with a 3D pen, and take screenshots. As for 3D assets, Vive Sync currently supports FBX and OBJ files, as well as Unity Asset Bundles,” says the official message.
Increasing Investment On IT Startups
Another driver of extended reality development is the Increasing financing of ІТ startups and companies that specialize on XR. According to Crunchbase News, in 2021, the global number of investment in virtual and augmented reality startups was estimated at 3,9 USD billions, and 320 deals were concluded in the field. And, as Statista predicts, in 2024, 28,5 USD billion will be invested in the XR development.
XR Equipment And Software Become More Available
One more reason why XR is getting popular in business is the accessibility of devices and software. In 2021, the number of sold extended reality devices exceeded 10 million pieces for the first time. It’s 60% more than in 2020. And, in 2025, the volume of sales is predicted to reach 48 million pieces.
Speaking about software, the Unity engine, that provides 60% of VR experiences, is another factor of the growing popularity of XR in business. This engine can be applied for designing different platforms and apps with high-quality 3D graphics that are good both for newcomers and professional users.
In its turn, Unreal Engine helps to recreate high-detailed and photorealistic graphics. This year, Epic Games presented the most up-to-date version of the engine 5.1, that allows creating 3D content of the next gen in real time easier and more effective.
Besides the instant creation of high-quality 3D models, there’s a significant improvement in video recording and recreating. In 2014, 4К resolution was presented for modern TVs and cinemas. And now there is an experimental 16K in the testing stage, and this resolution is supposed to be used for virtual reality.
One of the most recent examples of high-resolution video content in virtual reality is sir David Attenborough’s VR series Conquest of the Skies for Meta Quest. All the three episodes of popular science series tell the story about the evolution of flying creatures, starting from the period that took place 300 million years ago. The series creators said they applied the most recent 3D technologies to provide high-quality picture and enhance the immersion effect.
“The story of flight spans millions of years. And, so, this was an opportunity to combine extremely high quality 3D footage of animals, that we can shoot today, with a CG pipeline that would let us imagine what it might have been like for dinosaurs of million years ago,” said Eric Chang, executive producer from Meta Quest.
Save Your Business Money With XR
Here is one more driver of extended reality progress, and it’s the necessity to reduce company’s expenses. The first way to save money is cutting down the number of production accidents that cause serious financial damage to company. Various complaints and mistakes cost businesses more than 200 USD million per year.
Extended reality training is one of the solutions to the problem. According to Holopundits, manufacture workers finish their training in VR 75% faster than those using traditional ways of training. And, respectively, companies with virtual reality training save 30 dollars per one working hour.
We hope you understood why popularity of XR is constantly growing. COVID-19 pandemic, that made usual office work more difficult, became an engine that helped XR get implemented in different businesses. Particularly, companies started applying VR offices for remote workers, virtual shops, etc. The rapid development of extended reality equipment and software also became the driver that moves XR forward. And, using virtual and augmented reality in work helps companies save money and increase their workers’ efficiency.
We are glad to announce that Qualium Systems has officially joined the VR/AR Association. With great hopes, we become part of the largest global association for virtual and augmented reality, which unites more than 4300 organizations.
Qualium Systems is proud to be engaged in a community that uses deep knowledge, global vision, and modern technologies to change the world around for the better.
As we wrote in the last post, we decided to optimize the process of developing XR projects. To achieve this, we are developing a special library of features that we encounter from project to project. This decision was based on our experience of interaction with clients, which shows that the XR applications we order often contain similar features, such as 2D drawing or interaction with objects.
Library structure
In this post, we want to talk in more detail about the structure of our library. After all, it depends on how convenient and effective it will be to work with her.
API
The API of our library will contain the main logic of all features. There will be about 30 features in total, in the future we will supplement them.
Platforms
Implementation of features for specific platforms, such as Oculus, Pico, iOS, Android and Hololens 2 , etc.
Benefits for our customers
In the last post, we covered this issue in detail, now we will briefly remind you why we are doing all this and what our clients will get as a result.
- The speed of project development increases, as a result, it becomes possible to bring the product to market faster.
- The reliability and quality of the implementation of features is growing, as a result, risks, problems with the code, and testing costs are reduced.
- The available functionality is expanding, as a result, it becomes possible to use all the capacities of the features.
- Continuous improvement, as a result, the ability to receive feature updates even after the completion of the project.
Conclusion
The main idea of our library is the development of typical features that we encounter from project to project. The library will contain the API with the core logic of the features and their implementation for specific Platforms, such as Oculus, Pico, iOS, Android and Hololens 2 , etc.
We know the world through our senses and perception systems. At a young age, we all learned that we have five senses: taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing. These are, however, only our most obvious sense organs. In today’s tech-driven world, we spend much time looking at screens. Computers, smartphones, and televisions have become a big part of our lives. Virtual and augmented reality are two technologies changing how we use screens, creating new and exciting interactive experiences.
At Qualium Systems, our mission is to make Immersive technologies accessible and understandable for every small and large business. We are a high-end software development company creating AR/VR/MR, Mobile and Web applications for digital agencies, startups and enterprises. We provide our clients with a complete software production cycle: detailed discovery and business analysis, technical research, design, software development, QA, maintenance and support.
We recently received a 5-star rated review on Clutch, a B2B ratings and reviews platform. The feedback came from Glisser, a virtual events SaaS company. We helped the client expand their development team to build the second version of their product. Our task was to convert the prototype product from an iOS and Android app into an entire web app.
“Overall, working with Qualium Systems was excellent. My CTO and UX designer spent some time over in Ukraine with them and got together very well, which made things very easy. Additionally, we used email and Slack to communicate, and we had video calls once per week.” – Michael Piddock, Founder & CEO, Glisser
Qualium Systems is featured as a leading company on Top Design Firms, naming us a top VR company. A sister company to Clutch, Top Design Firms compiles and organizes companies offering marketing, design, and development services. It aims to help buyers find the right company for their project.
It’s always delightful to receive such a lovely review from our clients. We always drive ourselves to give quality services to our clients, and we are thrilled to see them succeed in their endeavors.
We help businesses add value to their services and products with Immersive Technologies. Work with us now!