AR Vs. VR Battle #1: Device Penetration

2015 saw Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) taking center stage when it came to product announcements and new technology introductions. The key question now is which of these will gain the upper hand in 2016. I have broken down this war between VR & AR as several battles. The first among these will be for Device Penetration. I feel this will be the number one reason for either of the technologies to gain dominance in 2016.

When we talk of device penetration we look at all the devices that will purely support VR or AR. Devices for AR can be any consumer device having a screen and camera, at present smartphones and tablets are the best platforms for AR. When it comes to VR, I have considered only head mounted displays (HMDs), as they are considered to give advanced immersive VR experiences, compared to plain VR viewers.

Now let us see how both the hardware platforms fare in terms of various parameters which help in improving their penetration:

1. Hardware Penetration: On the VR front HMDs have less than 1% penetration. The major reason being no hardware vendor has come out with a commercial grade HMD. Most are still in development stage and might hit the markets only after mid 2016. The ones which have been launched, still need a lot of improvements in terms of usability. On the other hand for AR at present the basic hardware platform is already in existence with consumers, namely the smartphones and tablets. These devices have a market penetration greater than 50%. This gives AR a very massive advantage in reaching consumers compared to VR.
2. Device Availability:  At present not many HMDs are available out there in the market for consumers to use. Most of the hardware are in developmental stages and have not taken off commercially. Even the ones that are available is currently restricted to gaming and this again restricts the wider use of VR headsets.
3. Mass Acceptance: VR as a technology has not yet been widely accepted by the masses. It is still in the very early stages of being explored and fine tuned. As a result of this, one won’t find people buying HMDs off the shelf in electronic stores like they buy smartphones and tablets, neither will you see people using HMDs on a daily basis at homes or offices. AR on the other hand is being introduced to the consumer as an alternate use case of their existing mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. When people see alternate and innovative uses of hardware they own, the acceptance and need to embrace the new use case is higher. This is helping AR gain mass acceptance and a wider foothold in the consumers’ daily life.
4. Portability: Device portability will be another major point in pushing the penetration of the hardware in the market. Most of the HMDs used for VR experiences are bulky and not that easy to carry around when compared with a smartphone or a tablet that can be pocketed easily. This gives AR the edge to be always present in the consumers’ hands when he/she needs to use it through their mobile devices. VR Viewers like Google Cardboard or DODOcase on the other hand are more portable and being used by consumers to get the initial immersive experience, of course with the help of their smartphones.

These four points clearly give AR the lead over VR when it comes to Device Penetration and we have a clear winner in this battle for now.

Improving Luxury Brand Intimacy Using Virtual Reality

The Need

Brands worldwide have to engage their customers at all stages of the buying cycle and when it comes to ultra-luxury brands like Patek Phillippe in watches or Koenigsegg in super cars, the customers’ expectations from the brand simply doubles. Engaging the customer in a more intimate manner becomes a necessity for the brand.

Luxury brand touch points that can use VR

Sample Use Case for Koenigsegg

In order to engage the customer in a more intimate manner whereby they can experience the product right through the selection, design, manufacturing, testing and final delivery, virtual reality can play an immense role in providing this intimacy.

Suppose you get invited to preview and buy the last unit of the Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita super car, the company plans to build just three units and approximate market price is above USD 4.5 million. With such a high value purchase you will definitely want to see the car, feel it, ride it, customize it and watch it being built in its factory in Sweden. But being in some other part of the world should not hinder this entire experience of testing, customizing and watching your super car being built. With virtual reality you can do all this sitting at your home in any part of the world.

All you need is to get online using your head mounted display (HMD) and visit the Koenigsegg site to start your virtual reality tour. Here you will be able to see the super car, get inside the car to view the interiors and also test drive it on their test circuit in Sweden. Once you make your decision to purchase it, you can then interact with the designers and customize your ride, right from the exterior colors to each and every component that goes into it. Not just this, once your supercar’s production begins in the factory you can virtually visit the factory and see the progress through real time broadcast of the production process. With such a personalized experience with the brand, every customer will feel the value for money they have spent on the product.

This solution can be used by any of the ultra-luxury brands for their limited edition products.

Technology in Use

• HMD – Can be any of the ones available in the market, like Oculus, HTC Vive, Samsung Gear etc.
• VR Environment – Any of the VR studios that can build the product experiencing environment, mainly selecting the interiors, exterior color, virtual test drive etc.
• VR Broadcasting – For viewing the product manufacturing process real time or delayed, NextVR