Virtual Reality or Augmented Reality, call it whatever, but it is the next thing of the decade. Though it has been there since sometime now, but with the way things have picked up in the industry, the current decade will see it grow by leaps and bounds.

Till an year back, VR was limited to only gamers playing close-to-realistic games. But as the latest developments unfolds, Virtual Reality will come close to Real Reality!

Developments in Virtual Reality

The foremost thing required for any industry to grow is the investment. And, if you look at developments that have happened in past year or so will show a clear picture that Virtual Reality is getting all the attention from the biggies. Be it Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus Rift or Google’s investment in Magic Leap. Samsung, another biggie, has already announced GearVR, its line of Virtual Reality wearable gadgets. According to Augmented Reality Trends, 2015 has already seen investments of close to $700 Million.

Affordability is the next hindrance which can kill a great concept. Google has already experimented with Google Glass to give the world a glimpse of what consumer-sided Virtual Reality can be like. Google’s another project, Google Cardboard, is more than just an effort from Google to let people taste this new paradigm.

Real-world applications and business solutions. Virtual Reality has already got a lot of traction from various businesses and otherwise. Applications like Jaguar Land Rover’s virtual showroom is the perfect example. Then there is a Ukrainian team which is working on an Interactive Documentary about Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant’s tragic nuclear accident. This movie, as reported by Virtual Reality Reporter, will be available for all major VR devices, such as Oculus, Samsung GearVR, Google Cardboard, etc.

Here is a small video from Lowe’s Innovation Labs: The Holoroom:

and then there is a short Virtual reality movie, which showcases how interaction will increase with increased use of VR in motion pictures.

But these are just experiments, one can advocate. Then, as RoadtoVR noticed, Google has already started roling out job vacancies which hint towards its plans for consumer VR hardware. For example, Google’s ‘Hardware Engineering Technical Lead Manager, Virtual Reality’ positions has following as a part of it’s JD:

As the Hardware Engineering Technical Lead Manager for the consumer hardware products, you will drive the design and execution of our ever increasing product portfolio. You will be responsible for the building multiple CE devices and will put together the right team that will scale with our product offering.

And most importantly, recently, Clay Bavor, who has lead various product management roles for products like Google Docs, Google Drive, etc. is now VP for Virtual Reality.

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