Augmented and Virtual Reality devices are starting to saturate the market – both technologies have been predicted to take the market by storm by the year 2020. According to Tim Merel, the managing director of digital M&A firm Digi-Capital , the A/V Reality market may be worth $150 billion dollars at that point in time.
Products are arriving on the scene from some of the biggest companies around – Google’s Augmented Reality Google Glass recently went back to the drawing board for a redesign, but competing products such as Sony’s Smart EyeGlass and Microsoft’s HoloLens are making ready to compete with Google’s early start.
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Meanwhile, the bigger, badder Virtual reality headsets are drawing battle lines – current versions of Valve and HTC’s Vive VR are apparently the most advanced according to testers, but the more openly tested and previewed Oculus rift by Oculus and Facebook is certainly a comparable if not superior device.
Of course, other companies are also attempting to have a go at cornering the market, but as Tim Merel puts it, the market is in its infancy right now.
“There are amazing early-stage platforms and apps, but VR/AR in 2015 feels a bit like the smartphone market before the iPhone. We’re waiting for someone to say “One more thing…” in a way that has everyone thinking “so that’s where the market’s going!””
– Tim Merel, Managing Director, Digi-Capital (speaking today on TechCrunch)
The forecast is for a strong level of adoption and investment in the tech – according to Digi-Capitals figures shown in the chart below, Virtual Reality won’t take off in as much of a big way as Augmented Reality, but both areas of the market together will contribute to that massive predicted figure.
The myriad of products will of course take their time to establish roots in the market – some may fail, some may dominate, it’s all really up in the air currently. The main attraction of Augmented Reality definitely is the ‘heads up display’ opportunities in industry and the media, whereas gamers will be much more attracted to Virtual Reality.
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As for the takeoff time, the 5 years leading up to 2020 will be long and presumably festooned with new releases. it may even take less time for the products to take off if they become must-haves. One device may emerge victorious, but it’s hard to predict which.
Smartphones were absolutely huge when they first arrived, but only now are they rivaling personal computers in terms of functionality and power. Could AR and VR take the same amount of time to rival smartphones and other mobile devices? Stay tuned for more info.
Source: Techcrunch
More Info: Digi-Capital