A look into the past to understand the future
These are exciting times in the world of technology. It is hard to look even a decade back, and wonder how life was before many of today's technologies became commonplace. Before we dive into the topic of this Blog post, it is important to take a moment to reflect back, in order to understand the future. Only a decade ago we didn't have smartphones and tablets with intelligent assistants like Siri, Google now or Cortana. Social Media giants like Facebook and Twitter were concepts barely out of the dorm rooms. High Definition TVs and streaming services were dreams and we would get our movies from a video store or have DVDs mailed to us at best. We didn't have one-click ordering on Amazon with Prime delivery within 2 days. GPS was an expensive gadget few could afford and most of us were using paper maps to get to places. We didn't have online ratings for every restaurant via Yelp, and YouTube had not even been invented yet. The mobile revolution hadn't happened and the introduction of the iPhone was years away. In 2007 Steve Jobs revealed the iPhone and shortly after the accompanying App Store and ushered in the world of the mobile platform that changed the way we live our lives.
An Evolution of platforms
And this brings us to the topic at hand, namely platforms and the future. Starting as the personal computer platform and transitioning ever more to the mobile phone platform computers have been revolutionizing our lives and impacting everything from the way we shop to the way we socialize and date. However a potentially even bigger shift is coming our way in the coming years. In fact this upcoming platform might have such huge impact, that looking back, the transition to the mobile platform was only a minor one. This upcoming platform is called VR short for Virtual Reality. A computer generated three dimensional world that can be experienced using a VR headset.
A brief history of VR:
VR has been around probably since the 80s, mostly as university technology projects or part of military research with systems that could cost upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is only thanks to the mobile revolution that displays, sensors, mobile CPUs and other technologies necessary for VR, have become cheap enough to make it a viable platform within consumer reach. On the forefront of the current VR revolution is Oculus, a startup company that got off the ground thanks to a kickstarter project and recently acquired by Facebook for 2 Billion dollars.
Impact on society:
The impact of VR on society is hard to assess at this point, as it is an unproven technology–but the ideas driving it are powerful enough to potentially reshape our lives. "Presence" is what VR promotes and sets it apart from other technologies that preceded it. By delivering a truly immersive 3D environment through stereoscopic displays that react to your head movement, it allows someone to feel as though they are in a different place. Imagine being able to visit remote locations or even completely fantastic nonexistent places. The imagination of the "architects" of these virtual worlds will be the only limit as to what can be experienced. Applications could impact all facets of life, ranging from gaming to education to online shopping–this technology has potential to change it all.
Impact on retail:
Certainly online shopping has become ever more pervasive with the rise of the internet and more recently with the mobile revolution. Online retailers like Amazon allow us to shop for almost anything from the comfort of our couches. However traditional retail environments have remained, and there are many reasons for it. Many of us like to see goods in person and interact with the merchandise before we buy the product. We enjoy strolling through a mall and the experience of the many stores and people. If there was only a way to bring these worlds together. With VR this elusive goal might actually become reality. VR allows you to walk virtual malls and stores from the comfort of your own home. It will allow you to pick up merchandise and inspect it from different angles and get a better feel for the size and shape of it. Your favorite stores would only be restricted in design and scope by the imagination of the designers and programmers behind it.
When is VR arriving?
VR will be coming to the masses probably sometime in 2015. Aside from Oculus, Sony is also working on a system that will be released for the PS4. In addition Google has started experimenting with VR and encourages developers to create mobile VR applications. Whether these systems will be a success or failure depends to a large extent on what exciting applications and experiences, content creators will come up with. Without compelling content, this technology might not appeal to a large audience and might remain a niche product for the foreseeable future.
Concerns about VR and final words:
There are a number of concerns regarding this technology as with any other technology before it. Anything from anti-social isolation to simulation sickness caused by a disjoint between what you see and what your body feels are concerns that are being raised at this point. Overcoming these issues will be a combination of Engineering and a society-wide dialog about the perils of this ground-breaking technology.
However, given the potentials of this technology we firmly believe that VR is coming, so the only question that remains is not if, but when. By the end of 2015 we might know the answer.
These are exciting times in the world of technology. It is hard to look even a decade back, and wonder how life was before many of today's technologies became commonplace. Before we dive into the topic of this Blog post, it is important to take a moment to reflect back, in order to understand the future. Only a decade ago we didn't have smartphones and tablets with intelligent assistants like Siri, Google now or Cortana. Social Media giants like Facebook and Twitter were concepts barely out of the dorm rooms. High Definition TVs and streaming services were dreams and we would get our movies from a video store or have DVDs mailed to us at best. We didn't have one-click ordering on Amazon with Prime delivery within 2 days. GPS was an expensive gadget few could afford and most of us were using paper maps to get to places. We didn't have online ratings for every restaurant via Yelp, and YouTube had not even been invented yet. The mobile revolution hadn't happened and the introduction of the iPhone was years away. In 2007 Steve Jobs revealed the iPhone and shortly after the accompanying App Store and ushered in the world of the mobile platform that changed the way we live our lives.
An Evolution of platforms
And this brings us to the topic at hand, namely platforms and the future. Starting as the personal computer platform and transitioning ever more to the mobile phone platform computers have been revolutionizing our lives and impacting everything from the way we shop to the way we socialize and date. However a potentially even bigger shift is coming our way in the coming years. In fact this upcoming platform might have such huge impact, that looking back, the transition to the mobile platform was only a minor one. This upcoming platform is called VR short for Virtual Reality. A computer generated three dimensional world that can be experienced using a VR headset.
A brief history of VR:
VR has been around probably since the 80s, mostly as university technology projects or part of military research with systems that could cost upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is only thanks to the mobile revolution that displays, sensors, mobile CPUs and other technologies necessary for VR, have become cheap enough to make it a viable platform within consumer reach. On the forefront of the current VR revolution is Oculus, a startup company that got off the ground thanks to a kickstarter project and recently acquired by Facebook for 2 Billion dollars.
Impact on society:
The impact of VR on society is hard to assess at this point, as it is an unproven technology–but the ideas driving it are powerful enough to potentially reshape our lives. "Presence" is what VR promotes and sets it apart from other technologies that preceded it. By delivering a truly immersive 3D environment through stereoscopic displays that react to your head movement, it allows someone to feel as though they are in a different place. Imagine being able to visit remote locations or even completely fantastic nonexistent places. The imagination of the "architects" of these virtual worlds will be the only limit as to what can be experienced. Applications could impact all facets of life, ranging from gaming to education to online shopping–this technology has potential to change it all.
Impact on retail:
Certainly online shopping has become ever more pervasive with the rise of the internet and more recently with the mobile revolution. Online retailers like Amazon allow us to shop for almost anything from the comfort of our couches. However traditional retail environments have remained, and there are many reasons for it. Many of us like to see goods in person and interact with the merchandise before we buy the product. We enjoy strolling through a mall and the experience of the many stores and people. If there was only a way to bring these worlds together. With VR this elusive goal might actually become reality. VR allows you to walk virtual malls and stores from the comfort of your own home. It will allow you to pick up merchandise and inspect it from different angles and get a better feel for the size and shape of it. Your favorite stores would only be restricted in design and scope by the imagination of the designers and programmers behind it.
When is VR arriving?
VR will be coming to the masses probably sometime in 2015. Aside from Oculus, Sony is also working on a system that will be released for the PS4. In addition Google has started experimenting with VR and encourages developers to create mobile VR applications. Whether these systems will be a success or failure depends to a large extent on what exciting applications and experiences, content creators will come up with. Without compelling content, this technology might not appeal to a large audience and might remain a niche product for the foreseeable future.
Concerns about VR and final words:
There are a number of concerns regarding this technology as with any other technology before it. Anything from anti-social isolation to simulation sickness caused by a disjoint between what you see and what your body feels are concerns that are being raised at this point. Overcoming these issues will be a combination of Engineering and a society-wide dialog about the perils of this ground-breaking technology.
However, given the potentials of this technology we firmly believe that VR is coming, so the only question that remains is not if, but when. By the end of 2015 we might know the answer.
- Mehrdad Haghighi
Mehrdad is a designer at JDA Inc, a graphic design firm that specializes in supporting companies' branding and retail efforts with a Unified Marketing approach. To learn more, click here click here.
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