ABI Research – Page 2 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

August 16, 2017

VR Expected to Reach Over Quarter of a Billion Users by 2022

According to figures released by ABI Research, the rate of adoption of virtual reality (VR) will continue to increase over the next few years, gaining up to 256 million users worldwide by 2022, generating revenues of over $60 billion (USD) by that year.

The report indicates that much of the expected user base will be made up of consumers, who will also be accounting for most of the revenue generated, though enterprise and commercial use is expected to expand its market share to over 40% by 2022, a significant rise from the 26% of market share as of 2015.

“Content availability remains an issue, but healthy strides were made in the past year, particularly in Asia-Pacific and China with location based VR. Further trials and launches will accelerate the adoption of immersive content across the market and expand the use of VR as a tool for training, design, preparatory work and planning,” says Michael Inouye, Principal Analyst at ABI Research. “While the consumer space often garners the largest share of attention the market potential is much wider and we’ve already seen very promising interest in verticals like Retail, Healthcare, Automotive, Education, and Real Estate /Architecture / Engineering / Construction.”

The report further predicts that the rise of standalone VR and 6DoF mobile VR will help narrow the currently large gap between high-end location-based VR experiences and mobile head-mounted displays (HMDs) such as the Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream.

Sam Rosen, Managing Director and VP at ABI Research, concluded, “We continue to view VR as a long-term market proposition, a technology that will really start to show its true transformative capabilities five plus years from now. In addition, while we currently see clear delineations between AR and VR today and into the near future. We expect these lines of demarcation to begin fading as the technologies increasingly reach maturity and saturation, perhaps then becoming better suited to the mixed and merged reality monikers that some use today.”

VRFocus will continue to report on developments within the VR industry.

August 10, 2017

Immersive Content Will Generate $6 billion in Revenue by 2022

According to a report by ABI Research, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and 360-degree video will usher in a new era of interactive and immersive content, which will generate an estimated $6 billion (USD) by 2022.

The report shows that since the launch of major VR platforms such as Oculus Rift, large companies has now been tested in all major genres, including sports and music. The report predicts that engagement with these interactive formats will only increase over time.

“Immersive content promises to marry Hollywood style content, tapping into the production elements of video games,” says Sam Rosen, Managing Director and VP at ABI Research. “New technologies exist to conduct fully spatial and/or light field mapping of spaces, as well as to generate holographic models of actors. Combining these techniques with artist-generated layers and interactive storytelling elements, such as speech synthesis, opens the door to using gaming technologies to deliver immersive entertainment to large audiences. Early on, content will probably only target location-based VR installations, but broader reach of the genre could come when a larger number of standalone VR headsets launch in 2018.”

Though the does report acknowledge the current barriers in place with regards to both the creations and consumption of these immersive technologies, noting such issues as the complex workflows needed to create and stitch together 360-degree video, along with the high price of entry for high-end VR platforms.

“The 360-degree video market presents a struggle for content creators,” Rosen continued, “On the one hand the new technology enables them to tell stories in a more impactful and immersive way, but it also requires new expertise, workflows and hardware. Add to this the limited installed base and still developing business models and it quickly becomes difficult to greenlight a project if ROI only looks at the near-term. The development of the market will depend on both smaller firms testing experiences with modest budgets, as well as larger firms investing in full scale projects and sponsoring internal and external innovation in the market.”

VRFocus will continue to bring you news on developments within the VR industry.

March 15, 2017

VR Devices with Embedded Vision to exceed 460 million by 2021

A report published by ABI Research is predicting significant growth in the number of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) devices that contain dedicated machine vision/embedded vision hardware, such as Google Tango-enabled smartphones.

Machine vision or embedded vision refers to devices that use sensors and coprocessors to interpret meaning from images or video. Applications such as Blippar already use a type of machine vision to implement its AR content, though relying on software instead of dedicated hardware.

Michael Inouye, Principal Analyst at ABI Research says: “Readily available software-based vision applications greatly expand the potential user base, but the added robustness and accuracy afforded by dedicated hardware will engender new use cases. This is especially true in enterprise and commercial settings; building off an already extensive foundation, mobile devices with dedicated embedded systems will support an extensive range of use cases and needs.”

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“Our market forecast is aggressive and counts on several major mobile device manufacturers releasing models with embedded vision,” concludes Sam Rosen, Managing Director and Vice President at ABI Research. “But current sentiments point to 2019 to 2020 as a key inflection period where the applications enabled by embedded vision will increasingly become integral elements of our day-to-day activities. There is also a confluence between some device categories, such as mobile and mobile-reliant VR, that further support these trends, but ultimately the applications will decide how pervasive embedded vision truly becomes—as of today, we’re optimistic.”

ABI Research recently published another report forecasting that between 2015 and 2021 the total amount of VR head-mounted displays (HMDs) shipped would hit 110 million.

VRFocus will continue to bring you the latest in market research.

February 10, 2017

ABI Research Predicts VR HMD Shipments Should Hit 110 Million by 2021

This week ABI Research released findings from its Augmented and Virtual Reality Devices and Enterprise Verticals report, forecasting that between 2015 and 2021 the total amount of virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMDs) shipped will hit 110 million.

Headsets such as Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard are already in their millions, dwarfing the higher end devices of Oculus, HTC and Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), due to their cost and mobile design. While many industry professionals see the future of VR in mobile, ABI Research only predicts a 42 percent CAGR for mobile. Instead the market research company expects to see standalone devices hitting 405 percent CAGR through 2021.

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These are devices such as the recently revealed Pico Neo CV, which don’t require an external PC and compatible smartphone, having all the components built in to reduce costs and increase ease of use. This type of headset is starting to grow in the Asian market, especially popular with Chinese companies.

“Mobile VR built a solid foundation for the overall market over the past few years, but standalone VR devices will eventually drive it,” says Eric Abbruzzese, Senior Analyst at ABI Research. “Low cost and high accessibility has, and will continue to, drive VR adoption with mobile devices and associated VR accessories. However, a trend toward standalone devices is surfacing, and will continue over the next five years until mobile and standalone VR devices see parity in terms of shipments.”

Due to this expected influx of standalone VR headset, broadening the gaming-focused VR market, ABI Research anticipates a total market size of $64 billion USD by 2021.

“The three primary VR device types—mobile, standalone, and tethered—are entering the market with unique value propositions, target audiences, and use case support,” says Sam Rosen, Managing Director and Vice President at ABI Research. “However, there is the less understood market of mixed reality on the horizon. MR incorporates elements of augmented reality to VR devices, as evident in Intel’s Alloy reference design. Associated machine vision technology like RealSense or Google’s Tango opens a compelling AR/VR hybrid opportunity on the mobile platform. Taking the best of both AR and VR will open up the enterprise market further, and will enable entirely new use cases and applications not yet conceived.”

360-degree video, education, and tourism are also expected to see significant growth, as well, just not as large as the gaming market. For the latest market predictions, keep reading VRFocus.

February 4, 2017

Sensics, uSens & More Namechecked as Future Industry Leaders By ABI Research

The leaders of tomorrow are the innovators of today. If you can predict just who that would be well, then you can ‘get in’ on the ground floor with investment and reap the benefits of your foresight financially. It’s a common thing to do, as, after all, financial traders do just that. As such research on markets is particularly valuable to companies and there are a number of different firms who specialise in data analysis working within and around the technology market. It’s all why you see so many stories relating research and market predictions throughout the year.

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What is somewhat more unusual in these stories is for one of these research firms to actively name-check specific companies as ones to watch out for. However, that’s what one – ABI Research – has done in their latest press release. The consultancy company, a 25 year veteran of the tech arena have focused in their latest report on companies to watch in both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) tech spaces.

Fovi3D, Meta, and Sensics, the latter of which has featured several times on VRFocus in the past. With the last instance connected to OSVR’s receipt of official Steam support back in November last year. Other names include Eonite Perception, Occipital, and uSens – another familiar name to regular VRFocus readers – with those companies invested in markets adjacent to AR and VR that will make the most traction. Machine vision companies being specifically highlighted. ABI Research also sees a time ahead where the named companies could help bolster the development of mixed reality (MR) to a point where it impacts the development of AR.

“Machine vision is the driver behind advanced mobile AR solutions, particularly in education and marketing, and will define the future success of mixed reality solutions in enterprise. The development and evolution of user input technologies is key as AR and MR markets grow, as the technologies will support accurate and intuitive hands-free interaction as implementations within the workplace become more commonplace.” Explains Shelli Bernard, a Research Analyst at ABI Research. “As vendors work to improve their AR and VR solutions, innovations through adjacent and enabling technologies will spur future market development. The push to implement MR, as evident in work from companies like Microsoft, remains the goal for the clear majority of enterprise implementations due to its ability to offer the immersion of VR with the safety and convenience of AR solutions.”

The release also mentions the prediction that AR will overtake VR in 2019, comprising a 53% majority of a combined $57 Billion (USD) head-mounted display (HMD) market. It expects shipments of HMDs to reach 37 million by next year.

VRFocus will bring you more information on future market reports as they become available.