CES isn’t even open to the public yet and VR & AR are already the talk of the show.
Starting on Tuesday, media from around the world were invited to attend two days of media events at CES in Las Vegas—a new addition to 2017. Last year, the tradeshow hosted nearly 180,000 attendees, including 200 government officials, with representation from 81 percent of the countries in the world.
Here’s what Consumer Technology Association, the organization behind CES, forecasts for VR/AR in the coming year:
- Sales of VR units to increase by 74% in 2017
- Revenues are expected to increase by 43% in 2017 for a total of $660 million in revenue
- The digital and the virtual customer experience will come closer in 2017
- There will be a push to get VR capable computers below the $1000 threshold
- We will start to see tremendous amount of investment in news content and advertising content in VR
- We will see more use cases on Live reality versus time and place shifting reality in VR
Brands like Qualcomm, Lenovo, Ricoh Theta, Insta360, ODG, Epson, Ericsson and Intel (to name a few) are making major product and company news announcements prior to the CES 2017 show floor opening.
Additionally, VR/AR startups like Immersive Robotics (Wireless VR), uSens, AntVR, Vuze, e-Skin, Cerevo Taclim (VR shoes), 3dRudder, Hypersuit participated in CES Unveiled, the show’s event where brands and startups can showcase their products and services to journalists prior to the official start of CES.
CTA also announced an upcoming AR/VR consumer interest market research study that will become available in the next months and will highlight the state of the industry.
