The future of work: virtual reality
Hello and happy Friday! What. A. Week. Then again, we’ve been saying that basically every week for the last four years.
First, a quick thank you. On Monday, I did what I normally do and posted some garbage on Twitter and LinkedIn about this newsletter. And then something weird happened. People responded. You responded. As of this writing, 1,823 of you. I am speechless. All I can say is thank you. I’ve heard from many of you over the last few weeks, and hope to hear from many more. If you have tips, or just want to say hi, please drop me a line.
(Me wearing a Samsung Galaxy VR headset at an Elton John press event in 2018)
In this weird world we live in, the virtual has replaced the in-person, as every walk of professional life has transitioned from press-the-flesh to video conferencing. One area that seems poised to have its moment: virtual reality.
The promise of VR has butted up against two realities: the hardware is janky, requiring lots of computer power (let alone the psychological barrier of looking like a doofus wearing a headset); and the content isn’t quite ready for prime time. Facebook, which bought Oculus in 2014 for $2.4 billion, is trying to build a lighter headset, according to Bloomberg.
Sure you can play around in virtual environments, but it’s not quite the cinematic experience of creating a new world. But now that the professional class is sequestered, the opportunities present themselves for enterprise VR.
In early 2018, I went to the offices of Glimpse Group, a VR/AR company, and they showed me what I took away as the future of virtual reality: spreadsheets. The idea was pretty simple: put on a headset, communicate with a team member on the other side of the world, and play with data to create virtual spreadsheets. So I assigned this story, that enterprise virtual reality—from remote working to job training and many points in between— is a viable future, to one of my reporters:
“Enterprise VR will “dwarf” long-term consumer spending, predicted Greenlight Insights CEO Clifton Dawson, noting that the aviation and energy sectors are already maturing, while logistics, retail and architecture are heating up. “There’s a cross-sector recognition that these technologies are value-adding in some fashion,” Dawson said. “It hasn’t always been the case where executives understand the value that these technologies bring.”
Fast forward two years and a global pandemic. This week, Wired went deep on how Spatial, a VR shop, has cleared the first challenge, the hardware, by introducing support “for web browsers on desktops, Android, and iOS. Oh, and the platform is now completely free and open to everyone.”
"In light of Covid, we've actually had an intense amount of demand—about a 1,000 percent increase," Anand Agarawala, Spatial's CEO and cofounder, tells me in a beautiful virtual room filled with sunlight and surrounded by mountains. "Zoom is not a good replacement for being in the office with other people, whereas something like VR gives you that level of presence and personification."
Indeed, the VR industry is poised to be a $120.5 billion industry by 2026 according to a new report.
Yesterday, signaling a huge boost for the technology, and the content, Apple snatched up NextVR, which CNBC writes:
“The purchase is further evidence of Apple’s plans to enter virtual reality and related augmented reality technologies as a new product category, although the company has not announced firm plans or a new hardware product, aside from AR software for iPhones.”
Moving along the S-curve of the diffusion of innovations we’re going to find the technology gets better and the price comes down as more people adopt the technologies. All one needs to do is look at how the adult entertainment industry has paved the way for many technologies—from VCRs to DVDs to streaming.
And as more people continue to work remotely, because it’s looking like people aren’t going to go back to working in offices any time soon (Twitter this week said people can work from home forever), the idea of virtual reality might cross into our reality reality. Really.
Jamiroquai, “Virtual Insanity”
Once again, thank you for allowing me in your inbox every day. This is just the 15th edition and it’s mind boggling you all are here. Thank you. Have a great and safe weekend. See you Monday!
Some interesting links:
Chrome will start blocking resource-heavy ads in August (Venture Beat)
Facebook to acquire Giphy for $400 million (Axios)
OnlyFans, Influencers, And The Politics Of Selling Nudes During A Pandemic (Elle)
Only A Mile And A Big World Separated Us: An All-American Story Of Two Boys From The East Side Of Baltimore. (HuffPost)
A great profile on Soledad O’Brien (LA Times)
Inside HBO Max, the $4 Billion Bet to Stand Out in the Streaming Wars (Variety)
Retail spending dropped 16.4% in April (WSJ)