TN VR for business – Hassan Kiyany. Photo Credit Leo James
While VR location-based entertainment is big, the technology is also getting traction in the business and the public sector.
I’m under attack from hordes of zombies and I’m fighting to survive.
I shoot one after another but their numbers are increasing as they swarm towards me, growling and drooling as my field of vision fills with ominous green scratch marks. It’s only minutes before I wave my plastic gun in the air in surrender, and staff at Dubai’s Hub Zero gaming centre relieve me of my virtual reality (VR) headset and get me out of the game.
While my shrieking had drawn a group of concerned school children to the booth, the experience is one an increasing number of people want to enjoy.
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There are myriad business applications of VR, from car test drives to remote surgery, but Mr Mirza sees the most potential in the gaming, entertainment and real estate sectors in terms of growth, content and reach. He also sees promise in the education sector, retail and tourism.
Consumer brands are starting to get in on the act. Emirates and Etihad both have 360 VR products, and in 2016 hotel group Jumeirah introduced a VR app that allows guests to take an AR/VR tour of its properties using Google Cardboard goggles and their smartphones. More recently Ikea launched VR pop-up stores in Kuwait, Jordan and Morocco, to create an immersive shopping experience for customers who can’t visit bricks and mortar Ikea stores, and claims that has increased footfall by 19 per cent.
Adoption
Part of VR’s growth is down to the reduced cost of the hardware required, making it much more accessible to developers, down from tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds. VR equipment is also now more affordable for consumers, and consumer awareness has increased as a result. By attaching a VR headset like the Google Cardboard to their smartphone, anyone can create a VR or AR experience for as little as $15. Spending on AR/VR hardware elements is forecast by IDC to grow from $118m in 2016 to reach more than $3.2 billion in 2020.
It is consumer interest that is set to drive the industry, says Mr Mirza. “B2C will allow mass adoption and B2B will attract special projects, which will give the VR industry a boost and that necessary PR. Enterprise solutions will drive investments, and consumer-driven content will create acceptance and reach.”
Content is also crucial to driving the development of VR technology, he says. “In the hardware aspect, we already have global players that have launched products and are constantly upgrading, so we should just embrace and import from the already established big players but the key for market adoption is regional content. There are UAE-based VR filmmakers who are working on projects and have already created some amazing story-telling.”
Hassan Kiyany is one of these UAE content providers. He runs an agency that develops content for AR and VR, and most recently developed an immersive tour of UAE schools for the Ministry of Education.
“We’ve been working with some key government and private sectors helping them embrace VR in their marketing efforts and public awareness,” he says. “I believe VR/AR provides a new dimension on how we can engage, educate and entertain audiences.”
Cutting-edge
Government initiatives are helping to push the technology in the UAE, says Ashwin Venkatchari, research director for the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, for IDC. He gives the example of the Dubai Future Accelerator, a government programme in which cutting-edge technology companies from the West develop a product to address a specific challenge for a government entity, that they can then go on to launch in the business sector in the UAE.
It’s inevitable that Dubai adopts VR, says Mr Mirza, in order to fit with its smart vision. “I think VR and AR together will need to be embraced with a lot of attention here in UAE. If Dubai has to be the smartest city in the world VR, MR [mixed reality] and AI [artificial intelligence] must be at the core of it.”
He says the hype alone has inspired government entities into “talking and embracing VR as a technology which is going to improve human communication, create new career opportunities and attract investments”.
The challenge to developing VR in the UAE is getting big global players including HTC Vive, Apple or Google to take the market a bit more seriously, says Mr Mirza. He suggests they have an R&D presence in the region, to help groom local content talent to galvanise regional solutions which will encourage market adoption. The fact that US AR/VR company EON Reality, which offers products such as its Virtual Trainer, has opened a studio and training facility in collaboration with Higher College of Technology Dubai is a great step towards building a skilled workforce in the next years, he says.
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Source: The National