In 2016 when Pokemon Go launched in India, the nation was swept by a unique of social gameplay that has never been experienced before. With already 500 million downloads to its credit, Pokemon Go before its official launch in December 2016 had brought millions of Indians together at Pokestops and showed how the viral location-based AR had gripped the nation. The Pokemon phenomenon gave everyone a glimpse of what the possibilities are of Augmented Reality.
Fast forward 2 years yet not many consumer AR apps after Pokemon has tasted similar success. Yet, augmented reality is incredibly useful for solving everyday problems. Put furniture into your space to see how it looks and fits in your home. Or navigate complicated spaces without ever looking at a map, like how American Airlines overlays real-time information on your surroundings at airport terminals in United States, so you will be able to effortlessly find your way to a cup of coffee, on course to your departing gate.
In India, AR has found its way to consumer apps belonging to banks & e-Commerce portals such as CaratLane, Makaan and LensKart which are finding that AR can drive an immersive experience can help drive more conversions and better user experience. AR has also found its way into industrial applications for companies like GE which uses Apple’s AR Kit to enable service workers visualize industrial equipment and repair it with greater efficiency.
AR has strong headroom for growth in delivering learning experiences for children in our country with about 140 million children in primary schools. Augmented reality could help democratise education and empower our parents and teachers to open up a portal for children to a prehistoric world or be used to explore ancient archaeological sites in their full bloom without evening travelling to those locations, understanding human anatomy or even simple games like playing with a butterfly from the African forests.
When Apple introduced the AR Kit in iOS11 it catalyzed creation of more than 3000 AR apps available today in AppStore. Apple, Snapchat, Facebook and Google are investing in AR & VR, with the Apple iPhone 8 and iPhone X been custom-tuned with cameras that are great for shooting at 60-fps video — the perfect speed for augmented reality applications.
Since AR can be delivered through a smartphone it has been more scalable in reaching consumers like with gaming app Pokemon Go, unlike VR which requires more expensive equipment. However, in the games industry only 7 per cent of developers in this year’s GDC Official Report in the U.S.A, stated they are working on AR in comparison to about 19 per cent working on VR.
Virtual and Mixed Reality Emerges
As per industry estimates, Virtual Reality made $1.8 billion in its first commercial year while Samsung Gear VR led with 4.5 million devices sold. VR has applications in a number of verticals including gaming, education, healthcare, real estate, architecture, online shopping. Goldman Sachs estimated that opportunity for VR in the consumer real estate market alone is around $2.5 billion by 2025.
One of the impediments of large scale consumer adoption of VR in India has been the price of the VR headsets. The VIVE Pro offers precision sub-millimeter tracking and is great for multi-user gaming experiences however is available at retail for around $1000. What could change this price sentiment is Sony’s PlayStation VR and Microsoft’s Mixed Reality (MR) Promise. Sony PlayStation’s VR which comes with 360-degree vision and delivers 120 frames per second, with 3D audio, and Microsoft recently released Windows 10 VR with inside-out tracking (inherited from HoloLens) makes VR a lot more affordable at around $300 and could fastrack adoption in Indian context.
Indian developers are also developing games catering to VR with headsets with Oculus Go (retailing at $200) available now supporting over 1000 titles and popular apps like Netflix which will find a following among Indian millennials and about 500,000 Netfllix subscribers in India.
As commercial adoption of 5G commences this year in developed markets and India expected to follow suit over the next few years, there will be numerous opportunities in the VR & AR industry as streaming apps like Netflix, HotStar and gaming apps begin to leverage VR & AR for a more holistic and complete entertainment experience.
(This article has been contributed by JetSynthesys MD and CEO Rajan Navani and AnimationXpress.com does not necessarily subscribe to these views).