Market

• Google Glass opened the door to augmented reality and Microsoft's coming HoloLens will take it a massive step further.
• Mobile-based VR (through smartphone-mounted headsets like the Samsung Gear or through mobile apps) will drive the VR market in the short term.
• The Oculus and Samsung partnership to build the Gear VR will open virtual reality to a more mainstream audience with its $99 price point.
• Facebook could gain another potential revenue stream from its 360-degree mobile app.
• Oculus Rift games are going to be the main driver behind sales of the virtual reality headset.
• Both Rift and Gear VR will need a lot of VR content.
• Netflix will be available for the Samsung Gear VR.
• The sheer cost of Nvidia's new VR-ready laptops means that gaming enthusiasts and people with deep pockets will be the first to shape the future of VR.
• The majority of people experiencing VR will be on mobile.
• VR is predicted to grow from $4bn in 2015 to a market value of $30bn by 2020.

Applications

• Video games are an obvious use case for virtual reality headsets like the one Facebook's Oculus division will launch early next year.
• Cutting-edge digital technology will enable festivalgoers to see the forest through the eyes and ears of different animals.
• Virtual reality cameras will change entertainment forever Editing software for VR will only get better.
• Specific, purposeful VR apps will give people a taste of what interacting in a metaverse would feel like.
• Technology breakthroughs in sensors will unlock new human interaction methods in VR and revolutionize the way people communicate in virtual worlds.
• New VR headsets such as from Oculus Rift and Sony will offer more and more realistic immersive environments.
• Travellers will just have to don a virtual reality headset to 'taste' destinations they are thinking of visiting.
• 360-degree videos on Facebook will be viewable in both the Gear VR headset and the Oculus Rift.
• Students studying physics will be able to 'step inside' a virtual environment where they build (and destroy) huge structures.
• VR as a journalistic tool is expected to bring in a sense of presence and empathy among viewers.
• A VR viewing could shed more light on the actual condition of the vehicle.
• Virtual reality cameras will change entertainment forever.
• VR and AR could drive upgrades of PCs.
• VR could be used to train surgeons.

Timing

• Samsung's Gear VR is expected to be on store shelves by the end of November.
• Microsoft will release the developer version of its 'V1' HoloLens virtual reality headset within the next year.
• Video content from Hulu and Vimeo will become available on Gear VR in the next few months.
• Oculus is expected to release a consumer version of the Rift early next year.
• By 2016, Facebook's Oculus VR headset and PlayStation's VR headset will be available to the public.

Potential

• VR is going to exceed anything Second Life or PlayStation Home has ever achieved.
• Seamless 360-degree video could be one of the applications that drives demand for VR.
• Mainstream immersive VR could become a reality in 10 years.
  

Consumers

• A lot of people are going to spend a lot of time in VR that is not gaming.
• Gaming will eventually make up a minority of the time that people spend using virtual reality headsets.
• Consumers will embrace emerging technology such as virtual reality shopping.
• The diversity of devices available could feasibly be too much for the initial demand.
• Some are betting that VR will be used to enhance the at-home e-commerce experience.

Development

• Apple could leverage its close relationships with app developers and the thriving AppStore to create virtual reality apps
• Immersive videos could be the gateway drug that the Facebook's 1.5 billion-strong audience needs to get into virtual reality.
• Similar to Samsung's Project Beyond rig, OZO promises to stream real-time footage to VR headsets.
• Tools to create for the VR world will continue to emerge and evolve as technological hurdles are overcome.
• Practically any startup with some kind of promising VR technology could easily pick up millions of dollars in funding.
  

Health

• There are health risks to using VR devices.
• Extended use of a rotating VR headset could cause neck strain.
• Human connections and immersive experiences within virtual space will cross over into a new uncanny valley of the senses in which anything is possible and VR memories will often be misremembered as memories derived from situations in meatspace reality.
  

Learn more
What future opportunities and risks could arise for your organization from advances in Virtual Reality? Develop your answer and response here.

Find the sources and more resources on Shaping Tomorrow's 'Virtual Reality Coming Soon' some of which were used in this Trend Alert, or ask us for our ready-made and free, in-depth PowerPoint report or more detailed GIST briefing on this or any other topic of interest to you.

Also, click here to find out how Shaping Tomorrow can help your organization rapidly assess and respond to these and other key issues affecting your business.