Right this second, a battle is being waged in millions of pockets around the world. In one camp: Virtual Reality, the super hyped, extremely well, (some say extremely over) funded technology. Believed by a great many to usher in a new type of computing. A technology where the very fabric of how humans interact with each other and a world will be redefined.
In the other camp: Augmented Reality. The less glamorous, far less hyped cousin. Seen by many as an upstart to the older, more established technology. But some argue, myself included, had actually been around longer than virtual reality, and is used in far more practical applications from it's creation.
Virtual reality and augmented reality will change the way we shop.
Michio Kaku
The prize? Billions of dollars in investment and hundreds of millions of users all looking to either escape, or enhance the world in which they live in.
The potential returns are staggering. VR and AR projected revenues] Easily enough to make almost anyone involved in creating the right product, the right app, a millionaire almost instantly.
THE CONSUMER DECIDES
For the consumers it's a win-win. Competition drives down costs, and fuels innovation as each vendor tries to out do and out sell the other.
There is of course, room for both technologies to co-exist and that very likely will be the case. But which technology will be the leader, with the latter being seen as an off-shoot of the former is up for debate.
VIRTUAL REALITY
Virtual Reality has always been the "sexier" of the two technologies. The promise of being able to transport yourself instantly to a virtual world has captured the imagination since it was first proposed back in the 1960's with development of head tracking displays. [More background]
First coming to prominence in the late 80's early 90's VR was immediately heralded as the next great revolution in computing. Whereby the 2000's, everyone would be connected and living lives in virtual worlds.
It never happened.
Augmented Reality came about around the same time. At that time it also came under the heading of “Virtual Reality”, only gaining a separate designation in [Time needed].
So which has the potential to take over to be the dominant technology. the incumbent or the “up-start”? Let’s explore both options.
THE CASE FOR VIRTUAL REALITY
VR has the potential to take you anywhere. From the depths of the deepest ocean, to the edge of our galaxy, and everywhere in-between.
VR has massive gaming potential too. To be able to “break through the fourth wall” and actually step into the game. To have the ability to step onto the battlefield, drive a Formula 1 car or dogfight in deep space is the ultimate experience in gaming.
Augmented Reality cannot touch that level of immersion. But what is in favour of AR, is the far wider scope of applications to which AR is far better suited than VR. VR by it's very nature locks the user off from the outside, physical world. Replacing the real world with one created specifically for the user. This limits the uses for VR to applications that primarily require the use to be, at least sensually removed from the world outside. Augmented Reality on the other hand embraces the outside world. In fact, AR needs an outside world in the first place to be able to be used at all.
CONTINUED IN PART 2
So who will win? As of now, nobody knows for sure. But it will be exciting to have a ringside seat to watch it play out.