"VR technology will not really take off in 2016. It will not be explosive until 2017. For many VR start-ups, whether or not they can successfully survive the past two years is the key to survival." - Joe Klaus
Joe Kraus is one of the partners in Google Ventures. He believes that virtual reality will not really take off in 2016, and it will not happen until 2017. He believes that for many VR startups, whether or not they can successfully survive the two years is the key to survival.
Google Ventures is Google's venture capital fund established in March 2009. Google hopes to use its own advantages to support innovative and promising new technology companies. By learning from the experience of top-notch venture capitalists and relying on Google’s unique technological advantages and brands, it has tapped into new companies with real potential.
Each year, Google Ventures has invested USD 300 million in various potential companies. Joe Kraus studied virtual reality for more than a year in this industry. Google Ventures has invested in a number of virtual reality related companies: Jaunt VR, a virtual reality video development company, High Fidelity and AltSpace VR, a virtual reality social development company, and virtual Reality game developer Resolution Games, and virtual reality sharing developer Emergent VR. There is also the need to mention Magic Leap, its investment is more from Google headquarters, not Google venture.
Joe believes that although virtual reality is first applied to computer games, in the long run, mobile virtual reality is the future development because it is easier to develop.
Joe recalled the Internet that was open to the public in 1993. He believes that virtual reality is also a promising product and that virtual reality technology will continue to improve.
Joe Krauss said: “The gold industry for virtual reality development includes virtual reality computer tours, virtual reality mobile applications, virtual reality adult entertainment, and virtual reality photos.â€
Recalling the development process of mobile applications, Joe believes that although relevant start-up companies have already emerged, industry winners will only appear after this wave of startup companies and applications are created. Now is the stage of virtual reality learning, but at present The industry is still worth the investment.
Joe believes that the gold industry of virtual reality development includes virtual reality computer games, virtual reality mobile applications, virtual reality adult entertainment, and virtual reality photos.
Internet sociality quickly swept the world, and virtual reality social networking is also the focus of Google venture capital. They currently invest in two virtual reality social companies. High Fidelity focuses on the construction of virtual reality social content. AltSpace VR focuses on the construction of virtual reality social environment.
He said that when choosing an investment target, they value team quality, markets, products and business plans. The current problem with virtual reality is that there is no market, but the absolute potential is unlimited. So they are looking for sustainable virtual reality products developed by teams with business models. The current virtual reality investment risk is not small, so Google adopts the cooperation with other venture capital companies to mitigate risks.
Google Cardboard (a kind of cardboard virtual reality glasses with a price of only US$2) has made an important contribution to the establishment of a virtual reality ecosystem. It uses the price that the general public can afford to spread this expensive new technology. Experience virtual reality and learn about virtual reality.
Joe thinks that the biggest mistake that VR entrepreneurs make today is the unclear positioning of virtual reality. Virtual reality is such a novel medium. People's attitude toward it may be surprisingly shocking and curious, and it is easy to mistake it for the work that is used to promote sustainable development. The future of virtual reality is augmented reality. Their essence is the same. In the end, Joe is looking forward to the emergence of fully transparent augmented reality contact lenses as soon as possible, and virtual reality can be fully automated. He realized that the laws of physics may organize this vision to come true, but it is true that various virtual reality heads will soon be popularized at least in the near future.
He predicted that in the next 10 to 15 years, we can experience the development of virtual reality to augmented reality. At that time, we wanted to arrive at any place on the earth at any time and it was no longer a dream.
In 1993, it was hard to imagine that all knowledge of the world could be searched within a second, but the Internet finally did, and it did more and better. Therefore, the future of VR technology and augmented reality is also worth our looking forward to.