I’m betting that Virtual Reality and other forms of Immersive Technologies will become mainstream as many are predicting and I want to play a role in that ecosystem. I’ve created this matrix which depicts my understanding of who the roleplayers are, what they offer and who they are targeting.

It may help you if you’re considering entrepreneurship / career options in this field or if you’re a consultancy trying to find out what service are currently possible.

The available services are at various stages of maturity; most in the early / experimentation stages. According to Gartner’s 2015 Hype Circle for Emerging Tech, Augmented and Virtual Reality technologies are still 5 to 10 years away from mainstream adoption.

Advertising firms aren’t waiting. Many are running augmented reality campaigns utilising smartphone tech. While the first phase of mature VR headset solutions will be available in the consumer market by Q1 2016, many hardware manufacturers have already released SDK’s to allow developers to start experimenting and creating content. There are already a number of intriguing commercial applications that are currently possible with augmented reality (or what Microsoft refers to as “Mixed Reality”. Expect the focus of many Virtual Reality vendors to be on gaming solutions, followed by developments in VR video, chat and modelling applications.

Cheaper, integrated 360-Camera solutions are now available and many organisations are experimenting with it.

VR and AR Tech is predicted to be a $150 billion market by 2020. There are still plenty of opportunities for people to offer their own solutions or become an advisor in this exciting field which is set to become a major technology disruptor in the future. Will you just be a consumer or are you considering becoming a major roleplayer? I’m hoping and working towards becoming the latter!