Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) solutions are seeing faster growth with enterprises than consumers, according to an industry study [download page] from VR Intelligence and SuperData. The survey of 595 VR and AR professionals in different functions across the industry has found that many businesses are seeing consumer growth that’s weaker than hoped.
That’s particularly the case for VR, where 42% of respondents classified growth as “weaker than hoped,” versus just 25% who found it to be strong (18%) or very strong (7%). In fact, the Consumer Technology Association appears to have downgraded its forecast for VR headset growth this year. Its forecast from early this year called for a 25% increase in unit sales, down from 79% growth predicted for 2017.
By comparison, the XR Industry Survey found that growth of respondents’ VR businesses for enterprises was more likely to be described as strong (38%) than weaker than hoped (33%).
The results for AR have been a bit more encouraging, according to the study, with 43% describing “strong” growth for their enterprise business against 30% disappointed with the pace of growth.
But even with AR, the consumer side of things hasn’t progressed quite as quickly as many would have hoped: fewer respondents described the growth of their consumer AR businesses as strong (31%) than as weaker than hoped (36%).
Likely as a result, companies are more apt to be prioritizing enterprise VR and AR applications than consumer ones.
Looking ahead, most respondents believe that it will be at least 3 years, if not longer before VR (68%) and AR (54%) applications attain mainstream adoption. The main barriers to be overcome continue to revolve around lack of content and the price of headsets, as they were last year, though these concerns have abated somewhat.
So while VR has consumer applications ranging from advertising to video viewing and shopping, it may be a little while until they’re widely used.
About the Data: The report describes its methodology as follows:
“The survey questioned 595 VR and AR professionals from around the world, representing our primary audience of senior-level decision makers across the spectrum of the industry – a cross section of content creators, hardware and software manufacturers, industry end users, consultants, analysts, press, and those playing their role in pushing the industry forward.”
Respondents were split between content creators/developers (33%), immersive tech manufacturers (33%), industry end-users (18%) and consultancies/analysts/press and others (16%).
