VR users say it will change everyday activities: report

Early adopters of virtual reality (VR) technology believe VR is poised to change pastimes like social networking and video viewing, though issues like motion sickness pose a barrier for some, a new report has found. “Key findings of the latest report include that 7 out of 10 early adopters expect VR/AR to change everyday life fundamentally in six domains: media, education, work, social interaction, travel and retail,” Ericsson AB said in a press release Wednesday, in reference to its Merged Reality report. “Almost half of the early adopters believe VR could replace physical devices like HD TVs, big screens, smartphones and laptops, and nearly a third of the consumers who are planning to use a headset also believe so,” the report said. Among those early adopters, 37 per cent said they have already shifted some video viewing to VR, 30 per cent have switched some gaming activities to VR, and 22 per cent have shifted a part of their social networking to social experiences in VR. “More than a quarter of early adopters believe that, within a year, they will be watching movies on virtual screens without owning anything other than a VR headset,” the report noted. Roughly a quarter of early adopters also believe that we’ll be using augmented reality (AR) maps a year from now, going on adventure trips virtually with other VR users, and using VR to shop for and virtually try out large items like furniture, the report added. However, almost one-fifth of early adopters said they found motion sickness was problem when it comes to VR. The report noted that the “delay between the movement in the virtual world and actual movement in the user's physical body may leave them feeling nauseous.” Other challenges cited by early adopters and customers in general include headsets that restrict the users’ view and mobility and are heavy to wear, as well as expensive, in addition to grainy resolution and limited content. The report was based on online interviews with 9,200 consumers in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. They were aged between 15-69 and were aware of the concept of VR. It also included a qualitative component, incorporating focus group discussions and test by Ericsson employees of nausea when using VR. Ericsson spokeswoman Vivienne Almqvist said in an email that the margin of error for both the total sample and the early-adopter segment is plus or minus three per cent at a 95 per cent confidence level.

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VR users say it will change everyday activities: report

Brief | June 21, 2017

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