Career opportunities for those with creative skills and an interest in IT are now opening up with the blending of the virtual reality with real life, making it a lucrative option, says Dr Rushen Chahal
Augmented reality is not a new phenomenon for some but certainly a new experience for the masses as they are now witnessing the technologies moving from tactical to practical. The very application of augmented reality tech is an enriching experience and soon we will witness people walking around in malls, on roads, in factories wearing virtual reality (VR) headsets.
The landscape has been radically altered with Pokemon Go and its acceptability across the young populations has expedited the oncoming wave or e-transformation at much differentiated levels. The integration of virtual reality —the online world with brick and mortar business is now nearing fulfillment. Digital business or rather marketing would now have a new meaning and we will certainly see many new phraseologies being deployed by marketers. Virtual reality was never complete, though we did know this but certainly did not know what next was coming and how to express ourselves.
Augmented reality, at present being deployed in gaming, will bring in new marketing formats for the retail industry to start with and then move into other sectors in the B2C domain. The core reason for this is generic formats that can be tweaked a little to suit each and every player. B2B domains will take some time as deployments of tailored solutions are developed.
E-commerce and M-commerce will witness a radical change in thought and actionables and in one year’s time we will see the online retailers deploying e-tools enabled with augmented reality features. Gamification of the elements for product and process, will take off and live demos will certainly be a holistic immersing experience. The oncoming concepts are mesmerising.
There are a few startups in India which are into the development, sale and manufacture of VR headsets — this market is likely to boom in the next three years and hence these companies now need to develop good products and move up the value chain from the beta versions that they now have in the market. They need to have VR headsets that no longer cause eye fatigue and can be worn for longer periods of time.
Students in engineering colleges and technical courses can certainly chip in with startups, looking to cash in on the huge opportunity that is coming in. Technology business incubators will by next year have a few startup companies with business models offering services, hardware and software for the VR world. Gaming technologies and software will now be actively used to build interactive/augmented reality solutions for businesses and tons of money will flow into this sector.
Computer science students will have a new high paying segment to fall back upon and many regular apps and games will be transformed into augmented reality graphical user interfaces. Mobile phones will now have much bigger batteries and 6 to 8 GB of ram as standard.
A simple example is an e-shop where you can walk around with mobiles pointed to display racks or VR headsets and the business offering targeted discounting/offers to each customer and the pricing model tailored to suit each buyer rather than have bold universally applicable 50 per cent off sale tags.
On a visit to the Taj Mahal you could actually walk with Shah Jahan as he takes a stroll on the lawns of the Taj or even decide to fight in the Battle of Plassey or walk with our Father of the Nation on his Dandi March from Sabarmati Ashram to right up to Dandi and live the experience. History will no longer be a theoretical subject.
The 3D imaging will now get a new lease of life as content will have to develop for the complete immersive experience. You could walk up Mount Everest with a climbing expedition whose real climb has been documented using 3D cameras. learning engineering you could participate in building a car at the Maruti plant or grow trees in the many farming related games real time rather than just clicks — which the current gaming platforms deploy.
Students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or even slow learners would now be better able to relate to the practical aspects of learning and their retention will certainly be much higher, thereby giving us a much better and competitive workforce.
We will also see Facebook radically changing the home page and bringing in augmented reality elements within the next one year.
The writer is vice-chancellor, Rama University