5 Industries Being Disrupted by Virtual Reality
A while ago you could only find VR or AR in a cool store mostly shown as a toy. Even now we are not putting on the headsets and heading to work.
But the good news is that there are a few industries which seem to be adopting virtual reality really fast and trying to leverage its potential to boost customer or user experiences. By boosting the customer experience, I mean helping the customer or the potential user explore the product or service in more detail, be part of the experience, feel how the product or service works, see how it looks like.
So today, I am going to focus on 5 industries that are already being disrupted by virtual reality.
Film and entertainment
The most groundbreaking thing regarding this industry is that virtual reality helps it transform the viewing experience into an interactive, participatory experience.
You know what I mean? Imagine being a few feet away from your favorite actor while he is playing in your favorite movie. Thrilling, isn’t it?
The term “cinematic VR” has emerged to describe these new approaches to storytelling. Although cinematic VR for a film is still in its early stages of development, many of us do believe that VR has got the potential to become another breakthrough for filmmakers since it eliminates the boundary between a story and its viewers.
Gaming
A long time ago gaming looked like this:
Now it looks like this:
Sure, gaming was always fun. But with the invention of VR, it has got to a whole new level. People don’t pretend to be the character anymore. They ARE the character.
And with the devices like Oculus Rift, players have started exploring worlds in an excitingly new way. Apple, Samsung, HTC, and Microsoft are trying to not lose the game by getting into the market and making VR available to a large audience.
Retail
Shopping in virtual reality is not sci-fi anymore. Huge retailers like Amazon and eBay are starting to or have already been using virtual reality to improve the shopping experience for their customers.
How many times have you purchased an item online only to receive it and get disappointed? Not the right material, shape, color etc.
This is perhaps one of the biggest drawbacks of shopping online. So, in order to fix this, big retailers are starting to incorporate virtual technology into the shopping experience to remove the uncertainty that troubles the customers.
To get the idea, just watch this video about eBay’s virtual reality department store:
Real Estate
This one is pretty much like retail shopping. You don’t have to drive hundreds of miles just to view an apartment. And if there are several homes you need to see, you might spend all your life driving….
So, in order to cut off countless house visits, wise guys have started to incorporate virtual reality into the game. The fun thing here is that the property might not even be built while the potential customer can view it to decide whether they want to purchase it or not.
The same relates to interior design, too. Let’s say, you have bought the house but you are not sure what design will work for it the best. No panic. Just watch your apartment in a VR environment and start playing with different interior styles until you find the one.
Healthcare
VR also opens a door for Surgery simulations through visualizing the human body in order to help train surgeons. Some simulators even provide feedback for the students regarding their actions during the simulation-surgery. This is, of course, a giant leap forward for the healthcare industry and can help prepare better healthcare professionals.
Summing up
Virtual reality is going to become a new game-changer in the nearest future. And companies who are ready for it will have a better chance of attracting new customers.
The easier programming for VR becomes, the faster the industry will grow. At Rodin, we believe in the future of VR and we have created a platform where businesses can build and deploy their own VR apps within very short timeframes by just using a few lines of JavaScript code.
It’s easier than you think!
