Virtual reality has met its match. Here comes its little brother.
Virtual reality, or VR, products have hit the PR wires lately, if not the store shelves. Sony (SNE) has talked about its Morpheus line. Google (GOOGL, GOOG) has talked about cardboard smartphone VR headsets. Apple (AAPL) has not said anything publicly, but the media has discovered that it has applied for VR patents.
And Facebook (FB) is about to announce its first consumer headset based on its Oculus Rift purchase.
Before a virtual headset lands under your physical Christmas tree, however, a lesser but still exciting technology called “augmented reality,” or AR, will garner some attention. Especially since two of its biggest and earliest boosters are masterful marketing titans Microsoft (MSFT) and Disney (DIS).
MSFT got some attention at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, by showing off its HoloLens headset, which Sony Computer Entertainment’s Shuhei Yoshida admitted was “super cool” — which is high praise from a competitor.
The company demonstrated how the technology could bring its Minecraft property to life in amazing new ways — e.g. by making your digital creations appear like magic on mom’s coffee table.
MSFT announced the device earlier this year, pushing it as the “next PC,” and is expected to keep the push up as the Windows 10 upgrade cycle starts and the company gets even more aggressive with the pricing of its Xbox One gaming console.
DIS is getting attention for its efforts to bring its Marvel Avengers property to life via the Playmation system, shown above. It’s a lineup of wearables, connected toys, and apps that use Bluetooth and cloud computing technology. The experience is intended to make a kid (or a kid-minded adult) feel like a superhero by strapping an Iron Man-style repulsor beam to a wrist while your Captain America figurine gives you tips on beating your opponent.
After the battle, you can upload your progress onto an iPad to see what new abilities were unlocked.
Hulk gloves are coming out in November while Star Wars items are coming next year.
What both MSFT and DIS are doing is helping meld the physical and digital worlds in new and interesting ways. If the last surge of technological innovation was about making computing more accessible and mobile, the next will make it involve more of the senses in a way that will make computing a more transparent and seamless part of your life.
Research: Anthony Mirhaydari
Jon Markman writes a daily trading newsletter, Trader’s Advantage, and CounterPoint Options, a service geared towards helping individual traders make steady, consistent profits with the VIX. Check out his Top Stock for 2015 here.
