Do you remember the time when Pokemon Go was making everyone crazy? It was the year 2016 when this particular game had everybody hooked on to their smart-phones obsessively till they find Pikachu!
For us who did not rely on got-on with the trend kept wondering why on earth everybody was so obsessed with this game, running around the streets looking for Pokemons?
Well, it was the first time when AR took the spotlight! Obviously, not all of us know that the whole thing was based on this particular technology, but we were engrossed by the crossover of the real-virtual world on such a massive scale!
Well, by now, both AR & VR technology has taken the industry by storm, be it healthcare, films, marketing, even farming.
But before going into further details, let’s talk about the difference between AR & VR.
What is the difference between AR & VR?
Augmented Reality or AR adds digital elements to a live view often by using the camera on a smartphone. It is more of an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information.
Another example apart from Pokemon Go is Snapchat lenses where you can add various filters & even Instagram for that matter.
Virtual Reality or VR, on the other hand, is a much more intensifying experience where there is a complete immersion experience that shuts out the physical world.
Google Cardboard is a great example of VR. Here while watching anything users can be transported into a number of real-world and imagined environments such as the middle of a squawking penguin colony or even the back of a dragon.
There is another concept that is gaining quite a lot of momentum now- Mixed Reality or MR.
In MR experience, which combines elements of both AR and VR, real-world and digital objects interact. A popular example of MR is Microsoft’s HoloLens!
But that’s a topic for another day.
AR & VR in Healthcare
The medical & healthcare sectors have embraced both the technologies in a big way!
Right from diagnosing a patient’s illness to training new doctors and more, it finds multiple uses in the healthcare industry. AR & VR is widely used in hospitals to improve surgery, treating psychological & neurological patients, improving management systems, also a part of hospital care.
In fact, AR & VR in the healthcare market is predicted to grow at a 30.2% CAGR over the forecast period (2018-2023), states the new Market Research Future (MRFR) report.
Going by region, according to the latest reports, America is leading following it will be Asia Pacific, Europe, & Middle East as well. After America, Europe is predicted to have the second-largest share in the market over the forecast period. But Asia is tuning up their game as well.
If you want a more detailed view on the use of AR in the healthcare sector, here is the link to our blog.
AR & VR in Marketing
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, 26% of senior marketers believe that virtual reality will have the biggest impact on marketing by 2020.
For the marketing world, VR & AR means a whole new world of opportunities.
One of the best ways to market anything is by telling a story & VR will exactly allow that. It will build allure the consumers immersing in a world that includes sight, sound, and as VR touch technology becomes more widely available, sensation. These developments bode well for marketers as they create with VR and AR technology.
Several companies have gotten out in front of consumer demand for AR shopping.
Take Lenskart App for example.
Have you seen their new ad? Their new “3D Try On” feature is a classic example of AR. The feature actually shows you frames that will suit your face type based on your facial features! How cool is that!
IKEA is another great example of companies incorporating AR into marketing. IKEA customers have access to an app that permits them to point their phones at spaces and see what different products would look like in their own homes.
AR in Mobile
The introduction of Apple’s ARKit & Google’s ARCore in 2017, has completely standardized the development tools and democratized mobile AR app creation which has brought more than double the amount of mobile AR-enabled devices and tripled the number of active users during 1.5 years.
The installed base of ARCore-compatible Android devices grew from 250 million devices in December 2018 to 400 million in May 2019.
AR-based on Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence or AI & Machine Learning basically go hand in hand.
Bringing them together with Augmented and Mixed Reality systems is a natural extension of many of the things that are best suited to AI and ML, particularly computer vision.
Moving out of the web browser and into the real world has immense commercial potential. By pairing consumer profiles with AR and ML, retailers can identify customer needs based on their environments and provide them with recommendations.
Like, take Amazon for example.
Did you know that nearly 35% of their sales are derived from its recommendation engine? This means they heavily rely on data science & machine learning to deliver search results and match advertisers with customers.
What holds for the future?
As discussed earlier, the scope of AR & VR is far & wide.
There are numerous AR/VR devices in the market, tablets, headsets, smartphones & whatnot.
Each device provides a different level of experience across the reality spectrum but also has specific limitations.
To successfully conquer the challenges of AR/VR while keeping up with market expectations and time-to-market, companies may want to consider partnering with experienced vendors who can provide a solid end-to-end product with finessed engineering skills.
By leveraging this technology maybe the companies will be able to deliver an out-of-this-world immersive experience!
Want to build a one-of-a-kind experience for your users?
Contact us at Skyram Technologies. Our experts will skillfully develop the perfect AR/VR experience for your customers! Connect with us here!
Also, have you checked out our other blogs on these technologies? Well, in case you missed it, read them here!
