Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

Below is the direct quote from the report.

“Although both Virtual and Augmented Reality are changing the form factor of computing, there is a simple distinction between the two. VR blocks out the physical world and transports the user to a simulated world, whereas AR creates a digital layer over the physical world. Despite the difference, both technologies represent a fundamental shift in information presentation because they allow people to engage in what Toshi Hoo, Director of IFTF’s Emerging Media Lab, calls “experiential media” as opposed to representative media. No longer depending on one or two of our senses to process data, immersive technologies like AR and VR will enable people to apply multiple senses—sight, touch, hearing, and soon, taste and smell—to experience media through embodied cognition.

Both VR and AR stand to transform not only media and entertainment but also drive development of innovative use cases in education, health care, travel and transportation, construction, and manufacturing. The information layer that both technologies create will accelerate the melding of digital and physical identities, with digital trails and traces forming a digital coating over individuals’ physical environments.

On-demand access to AR learning resources will reset expectations and practices around workplace training and retraining, and real-time decision-making will be bolstered by easy access to information flows. VR-enabled simulation will immerse people in alternative scenarios, increasing empathy for others and preparation for future situations. It will empower the internet of experience by blending physical and virtual worlds.

Right now, analysts project revenues associated with AR technologies and services will grow to about $90 billion by 2020, the majority of which will be generated through revenue spent on hardware. VR is forecasted to grow more modestly, increasing to $30 billion by 2020. Yet, as authoring tools get simplified, making it easier to create VR content, VR will catch up to AR.

Over the next decade, Hoo forecasts that VR, combined with vast sensor networks and connected technologies, will be one of many tools that enable distributed presence and embodied cognition, allowing people to experience media with all their senses.”

You can check out the full report from Dell Technologies and IFTF here.

Image Credit: The Future Group