Why Facebook Is Staking Its Claim on VR Advertising

J.C. Kuang, Analyst Advertising, Insight Articles, Media & Entertainment, Virtual Reality

Oculus leadership announced June 16th it is testing a system for embedding advertisements directly into VR experiences on the Quest platform. The ads will run on 3 currently released titles including Resolution Games’ Blaston, and use personalized data from users’ corresponding Facebook marketing profile and general intent metrics such as previous purchases and wish lists from the Oculus store. This … Read More

How Can Facebook Bring Fortnite Into Virtual Reality?

J.C. Kuang, Analyst Apps & Games, Insight Articles, Media & Entertainment, Virtual Reality

On June 11th Oculus and Facebook announced their latest studio acquisition; BigboxVR. Excitement around the acquisition centers mostly around Bigbox’s flagship title; Population: ONE, which is a massively multiplayer battle royale shooter for VR. Specifically, media outlets have drawn comparisons between Pop: ONE and runaway hit Fortnite, which has dominated both the gaming market and conversations around the future of … Read More

Snap and WaveOptics Enter The Shrinking AR Smartglasses Race

J.C. Kuang, Analyst Augmented Reality, Augmented Reality Intelligence Service, Automotive Technology, Devices & Technology, Head-Mounted Displays, Head-Up Displays, Insight Articles, Semiconductors, Venture Capital, Private Equity, and M&A

Following the announcement of its new Spectacles AR development kit, Snap Inc. has announced its deal to acquire waveguide supplier WaveOptics. The deal is worth over $500 million, at least half of which is to be paid in stock. The partnership between the two companies signals a recommitment from Snap to develop and produce true AR smartglasses within the next … Read More

SightCall Round Shows Maturity in Enterprise AR Market

J.C. Kuang, Analyst Augmented Reality, Augmented Reality Intelligence Service, Enterprise Transformation, Enterprise xR Intelligence Service, Insight Articles, Interfaces, Software, Venture Capital, Private Equity, and M&A

Field Service applications continue to lead applications of augmented reality in scalability and ROI potential, as evidenced by a new round of funding for German AR startup SightCall. The company raised $42 million for its remote AR task guidance solution, which targets traditional applications such as vision picking and B2B/B2C service and maintenance. SightCall uses marker-based tracking and is compatible … Read More

VIVECON 2021: Why HTC Is All-In On HTC Vive Pro 2 and Vive Focus 3

J.C. Kuang, Analyst Devices & Technology, Enterprise Transformation, Events, Head-Mounted Displays, Insight Articles, Virtual Reality, Virtual Reality Intelligence Service

HTC Vive will launch a new piece of VR hardware at its online product event, VIVECON, on May 11-12.  Based on reporting from media outlets, it is likely the company is teasing an upgrade/refresh to the Vive Focus Plus and Vive Pro; HTC released the first headset in April 2019, and unofficially discontinued and replaced the second with the Vive … Read More

Campfire Foregrounds AR Amidst Recent VC Interest in Remote Work

J.C. Kuang, Analyst Insight Articles

Campfire, a recently unveiled startup, secured $8 million in venture funding per its April 27th announcement. The company plans to offer an integrated hardware and software solution for remote collaboration in industries such as engineering and architecture. Clients in these fields are ideal since visually-oriented design workflows such as CAD are commonplace.  Building on the design of the defunct Meta … Read More