{"id":11129,"date":"2016-01-20T10:49:31","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T05:19:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/?p=11129"},"modified":"2016-03-19T10:11:49","modified_gmt":"2016-03-19T04:41:49","slug":"real-virtuality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/2016\/01\/20\/real-virtuality\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Virtuality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Much has been written about 2016 being the year of Virtual Reality, (or not) but at CES and beyond, one theme that I’ve been noticing is Real Virtuality. The phrase – I meant it as innocent wordplay\u00a0to\u00a0describe the thought I had, but the irony is that it is actually the name of a game! Irony, because my thoughts were around ‘real’ businesses (with obvious physical manifestations) entering relatively more virtual environments. ‘Virtuality<\/a>‘ in philosophy is\u00a0what is not real, but displays the full qualities of the real.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

While it had been floating around in my head, this post on GigaOm<\/a>, on car manufacturers and their\u00a0self-renewing straddle<\/em>\u00a0attempt in the future of the car economy, is what lent it a bit more solidity. The post mentions a few partnerships – Ford with Amazon for a virtual assistant service, GM and Lyft potentially for driverless cars. Ford is also well into its own autonomous vehicles agenda, has a partnership with DJI for drone-to-vehicle communications, (via<\/a>) and has launched a wearables lab to test<\/a> smartwatch integration with its cars. The car manufacturers are also developing their own systems, and are thereby in frenemy zone<\/a> with the OS folks – Apple & Android.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, even as fintech marches ahead on the basis of ‘disruptive’ new companies, some old folks are learning new tricks. From Credit Suisse exploring a social network for the super rich<\/a> to MasterCard’s tie up with Coin<\/a> to\u00a0to help other companies integrate mobile payments into their fitness devices, or smart watches, or jewelry, or clothing,\u00a0<\/em>and with Samsung<\/a> for its Family Hub refrigerator using a Groceries app, to Visa and Maybank’s Payband<\/a>, the first contactless (for payment) wearable in Malaysia, and its moves<\/a>\u00a0towards a blockchain-based remittance service, traditional players have begun their foray.<\/p>\n

Speaking of wearables and traditional brands, Fossil, Swatch, Tag Heuer have all begun<\/a> taking the smartwatches\/wearables route. IBM and sportswear maker Under Armour announced a partnership to use Watson for the latter’s fitness and health apps (via<\/a>) and L’oreal now has a skin patch that measure UV rays \u00a0exposure and tells you to wear more sunscreen or head for some shade! (via<\/a>) Mountain Dew<\/a>, Jim Beam<\/a> have both been dabbling in VR, as has obviously the travel industry in general<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Automobiles, consumer finance, personal care, apparel and accessories, drinks, hospitality, all very real products, which thus far were known more through\u00a0tangible physical means, are now moving into the world of sensors, IoT, VR and big data. While some movements have been happening in the last few years, I think this year will see reality making a mark, in more ways than one.\u00a0We will see relatively new technological incumbents duel it out for consumer trust with\u00a0traditional brands which have domain knowledge. As our experiences begin to blend and cross seamlessly from real to virtual and back, it will be interesting to see the mix of (brand) survivors.<\/p>\n

On a vaguely related note, do check out<\/p>\n