The Virtual Reality Paradigm Problem

After such a big splash in 2015, many people are skeptical of virtual reality. Hardware is costly, content is explorative/one-off. Yet, big tech players (e.g. Google, Microsoft, Samsung, Facebook, HTC and Amazon) continue investing into the future of VR. Many of the companies attempting to pioneer VR stateside have chosen video gaming as the conduit to debut VR in America.
The major issue from a community standpoint is that gamers happen to be the pickiest of any user when it comes to their experience. When gamers play games in virtual reality, they expect to wield VR in all its future glory; in it’s 5-years-from-now state. They expect to play their games as if they truly were the main character. In-game, if the user looks at an object they can throw, for example, they better be able to throw it. Unfortunately for them, the industry is only in its infancy. The biggest movers on all sides of the equation — hardware, platforms, content, and investing — are still trying to figure out what’s possible in VR despite hiccups in the gaming world.
It’s no surprise that the leaders in this space are taking major cues from adoption abroad, where VR is invested, evangelized, and adopted wholly via practical use cases: education, medicine, job training, etc. In China, HTC Vive has prioritized education in its agenda for 2018 and beyond. Chinese citizens themselves prioritize education above most things, and they do so even with their money. This is why HTC Vive is actively working to show how VR positively affects learning with their Vive Labs team, where teams have discerned that VR is positively affecting students who have access to the technology.
How Peeka Fits
In reference to Gartner’s Hype Cycle, even evangelists agree VR is currently in the trough of disillusionment. With this in mind, this is where our team is creating Peeka. By creating a mobile-first platform, we will be acting on the present opportunity to introduce multiple generations to virtual reality with immersive, exciting, and palatable content. Simultaneously, we will democratize access to VR on a concurrent track with higher end options as they also work their way out of the trough of disillusionment — into homes.
While we work to nail mobile and introduce families to the wonders and benefits of virtual reality, we are always cognizant of what the future holds with higher end platforms and our place in it.

The path to household familiarity begins with mobile
In two to three years, we expect that a majority of smartphones will be able to support high quality virtual reality experiences, assuming a majority ownership floor of iPhone 8/X and Samsung S8 or equivalent devices by 2020–2021.
Additionally, we expect high definition VR computing systems and headsets, such as HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, to not only be as common to recognize and discuss as computers were in the early 2000s, but with a similar adoption rate as well. The biggest points of friction at this time are the price points — not just of the VR equipment, but also of a compatible computer that you need to power the experiences.
In other words, within five years, we expect virtual reality to not only have household familiarity, but also to be a household product, whether it’s via mobile devices, or full-on, 6DOF, room-scale quality.
A platform like Peeka offers a solution to both families and publishers. We are a low-risk vehicle for publishers struggling to find their footing with e-publishing as screens continue to dominate, while also giving children the power to learn in new ways. Mobile-first gives parents and publishers the bridge to adopt VR, with us, and allows us to nimbly move to new platforms as they become mainstream.

Learn more about Peeka
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for our product launch later this fall and for more posts to come about virtual reality, educations and kids.
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Visit us online at:
📚 www. twitter.com/peekavr

