That’s me.
The truth is, my mother’s and daughter’s birthdays fell in the same week.
But it was important for me to fly there, spend 24 to 48 hours there and get a feel for where the industry stands and where it’s going.
Let me tell you: everybody is super excited and people are making money in it.
Yes, there are still people toeing the line, in a holding pattern, waiting for hardware to solidify a little.
But we are getting there. One of the questions we have to ask – and that we ask at BrandXR – is, “So what?”
Why should I care that I can see a virtual sofa in my living room before I buy? Why does it matter that I can try on clothes using only my phone?
You can do a lot of things for the sake of being cool. But does this make real life better?
That I can move a sofa by dragging my finger instead of by breaking my back or having to get stronger or phone a friend illustrates some of that utility.
Trying clothes on virtually cuts down on waste, as well.
There are real problems being solved by augmented reality and, you want to know the kicker?
Comparatively speaking, it’s still new tech and the utility is only just now being explored more deeply by more people.
So visiting AWE was a great chance to see who has been exploring what.
What I learned was that everybody has their own personal experiences with augmented reality in both using and building in the technology.
When you can get real-life stories from them in person, you receive it differently.
It lands differently.
Whether it was cavemen sitting around a fire or even to today, we listen to stories and understand information better, sometimes through the stories that are told.
If you’re selling products or trying to train someone, mixed reality helps tremendously.
It helps that XR isn’t just for one demographic but it’s for everybody.
The hardware this runs on – computers, smartphones – everybody has one.
The president, military generals, schoolteachers, soccer moms, hockey dads.
Whether you are a restaurant owner, furniture salesperson, surf trainer or children’s story creator, you use a smartphone.
That’s where XR will go, as well.
Everyone will have access to it because this medium will help all of those people I just mentioned do their thing better.
Right now, our smartphone is a little keyhole of a door that gives us a glimpse into what we can do.
When you have something more immersive and can experience things through a larger monitor, for instance, that keyhole gets wider – and curved.
But, move that forward: What happens when you don’t need that little keyhole?
What if the wall in front of you, the space in front of you, five feet to the right of you, is your keyhole? That makes the entire world your monitor.
If we only look at things through our own perspective, we can end up with a narrow frame of mind.
But when we connect with other people, we know what will work for other people.
And you know what works for other people?
Seeing their cartoon avatar kick a little butt in an augmented world, sharing it and bringing other people into your experience.
