Over the past year, two things have changed for the AR and VR market. First, developers in the market have started focusing on creating solutions that are targeted towards enterprises. Second, headset manufacturers have been creating lighter and cheaper products for large-scale use.

As a result, enterprise-wide applications have picked up significantly. Take Walmart for example. The company just decided to buy 17,000 VR headsets in order to make specialized training available to a million of its employees.

According to IDC, the combined Augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR) headset market grew 9.4 percent year over year in the third quarter of this year.

More specifically, the VR headsets market finally picked up after four consecutive quarters of decline and now makes up 97 percent of the combined market.

Global shipments for VR headsets reached 1.9 million units in the third quarter, up 8.2 percent from the third quarter last year, as extensive discounts on existing products and interest in new ones led to shipment gains in both the consumer and commercial markets.

“The VR market is finally starting to come into its own. On the consumer front, the combination of lower prices and increased content is beginning to resonate with users. Meanwhile, commercial adoption is also on the rise for a range of use cases, including training, design, and showcasing,” said IDC Senior Analyst Jitesh Ubrani.

During the quarter, screenless viewers such as Samsung’s Gear VR declined 58.6 percent as product discounts and availability have dried up.

Some of Samsung’s latest phones further exaggerate the issue as they are not compatible with the current version of the headset.

Besides Samsung, IDC sees other prominent brands such as Google and Alcatel also significantly scaling back their efforts in the AR/VR headsets space.

However, standalone headsets grew 428.6 percent and accounted for 20.6 percent of the VR headset market.

Facebook’s Oculus Go and Xiaomi’s Mi VR – the same headset, shipped into different markets by the two companies – together shipped nearly a quarter million headsets worldwide, making it the most popular standalone headset by a wide margin.

Tethered VR headsets surpassed 1 million units for the second time ever, making the third quarter of this year the best third quarter on record.

Sony shipped 463,000 PSVR headsets during the quarter followed by Oculus with 300,000 and HTC with 230,000.

However, Oculus managed to be the top vendor in the overall VR headset market thanks to the popularity of the Go as well as the Rift, capturing 25.9 percent of the entire VR market. Total Oculus shipments were 491,000 during the quarter, excluding the Xiaomi Mi VR.

IDC’s figures suggest that the AR headsets market also fared well during the quarter.

Lenovo captured the top spot with 23,000 headsets shipped. Most of that volume was comprised of the Star Wars Jedi Challenges headset, which is targeted at the consumer audience.

When excluding this headset, the AR headset market grew 1.1 percent over the previous year thanks to brands such as Vuzix and Epson.

Though Microsoft’s Hololens was still one of the most popular AR headsets, growth has slowed as many customers await the next generation headset that is expected to launch in 2019.

“With regards to AR, hardware growth remains modest, but we see strong interest in the technology from many companies. We expect new hardware shipping in 2019, from both established players and new ones, to help move the industry beyond proof of concepts and pilots into larger deployments,” said IDC Devices and Augmented and Virtual Reality Program Vice President Tom Mainelli.

What’s interesting to note, however, is the shift in the market with regards to AR and VR. Just a few years ago when the first headsets debuted in the market, it was imagined to bring a revolution to the gaming industry.

However, as time passes, it seems as though companies are seeing bigger opportunities in the enterprise market and creating products and solutions specifically for them.

Most recently, HTV Vive announced that it is launching a whole suite of “premium VR offerings for businesses of all sizes”. One of the tools they’ve launched is called the VIVE Sync — which claims to take virtual collaboration to the next level.

Augmented Reality for Asset Maintenance

Augmented Reality allows users to enhance their field of view with real-time superimposed digital information. This allows users to make use of information about an asset or to access step by step instructions on how to repair an asset while actually working with that asset. The applications of AR in maintenance have a great deal of potential. They provide users with the ability to receive information about specific assets instantly. Some of the proven advantages of using AR for maintenance include:

• Reduced human errors
• Reduced execution time
• Reduced breakdowns
• Reduced downtime
• Reduced cost
• Increased productivity
• Increased operation speed
• Increased fix rates
• Increased compliance
• Increased profit margins

The opportunities to integrate AR into maintenance processes is extensive. The ability to track your work, document it, and send it to managers could be enhanced by leveraging wearable technologies that provide engineers with an elevated view of assets. For example, companies can utilize AR technologies to provide written instructions “on top of” assets, reducing the number of hours spent on-boarding new employees. To gain a more concrete understanding of AR applications in industrial maintenance, let’s take a look at some real-life examples.

Real World AR Maintenance Applications

The following real-life deployments will hopefully illuminate how AR maintenance applications are providing value to a wide range of businesses. As a first example, GE has already implemented AR in some processes and are currently reaping the resultant productivity and efficiency benefits:

• GE Aviation—Experiencing an average of 8-12 percent in efficiency
• GE Renewable Energy—Wiring technicians are yielding a 34 percent increase in productivity

Numerous other companies are focused on developing AR technology for maintenance applications:

• DAQRIis focused on AR maintenance and industrial applications. It has developed a wearable AR tech smart helmet for industrial use. Engineers can see 4D images above assets in their facilities that prompt them with instructions and also give them a mapping of all asset functionality. This wearable technology allows engineers to discover asset information faster and closes the knowledge gap for new hires.
• UpSkill connects a workforce via AR, leveraging its wearable technology to guide technicians in real-time tasks, checklists, work orders, and sending information to managers.
• Worklinkhas made it possible for users to create their own smart instructions for assets to allow for less human error, increase safety, and also walk engineers step-by-step on repair processes. This can increase the time it takes to complete work by also complying with facility procedures.

The word “sensor” has become inseparable from the internet of things (IoT), where sensors detect environmental conditions and communicate these signals bidirectionally as data, whether it’s an industrial machine reporting its operating condition or your home thermostat being turned on remotely. This data is a key driver of the IoT’s global economic impact, which McKinsey estimates could reach up to $11.1 trillion per year by 2025.

Before the IoT, the two key functions of a sensor — to detect environmental change and to communicate that data — were largely carried out by humans. Today, as augmented reality (AR) technology gains adoption, humans will soon be equipped with sensors through various AR devices, such as phones and headsets. This augmentation provides uncharted opportunities for organizations to use these data insights to drive operational effectiveness and differentiate their products and services for consumers.

The AR market today is similar to where the IoT market was in 2010, generating considerable buzz and proving early value from new capabilities for users. AR’s capacity to visualize, instruct, and interact can transform the way we work with data.

Based on the lessons learned in the early days of the IoT, enterprises should be asking the question: What’s the best way to plan for AR device data and see its value, so we can build better products and processes from user insights?

The following areas are addressed:

• Smart, Connected Reality Means More User Data
• Assessing the Business Opportunities From New AR Data
• The DIKW Model (data, information, knowledge, wisdom)
• Early Use Cases for AR Insights

The article concludes with Connecting the Strategic Dots

What about the impact to a broader data strategy? Taking a step back to this level, the implications are potentially significant. The value of many data initiatives hinges on the ability to connect the dots. While IoT, digital engagement, voice of the customer, and other initiatives continue to create significant opportunities to optimize products and processes, many enterprises are running these projects in siloes because of technological or organizational constraints.

As AR emerges as a new source of context-rich data, companies that connect the dots between multiple sources from smart, connected products to CRM data, digital engagement, and other sources of insight will create the greatest opportunities.

Enterprises that want to capitalize on these opportunities should create cross-functional leads or tiger teams dedicated to the desired outcome — improving the customer experience — rather than by the traditional functional or technology-oriented alignments.

In this new data-driven world, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and AR just might be the missing piece you need to complete your vision.

1. How do you view the VR / AR year 2018? Are you satisfied with the past technology year? 
   – This year we have done many good things at XMReality. Our new software features within the company’s Remote Guidance, based on AR technology, have been well received by our customers. We generally have an increased interest from both existing and new customers around our company.
2. What was your personal highlight? 
   – I am very proud that we won a prize at the AWE fair in Munich in October. It was a team effort where the whole team contributed.
3. What do you think of the VR year 2019? 
   – I hope that VR technology can find its way back to consumers and businesses, as it was a few years ago. As far as AR technology is concerned, I believe in a continued increased interest from both companies and consumers and that many new exciting opportunities emerge.
4. Anything specific you’re looking forward to? 
   – Extra exciting would be if Apple chose to release their AR glasses in the spring / fall of 2019.
5. How do you generally view VR / -AR development in Sweden in the future? Is it going in the right direction? 
   – There are many interesting companies in Sweden within AR / VR and I see the potential potential for them to grow further in coming years.
6. Best VR-AR game / experience for the year? 
   – I think our own demo at AWE in Munich was this year’s AR experience. Here we demonstrated how we collected real-time IOT data from a mini version of a steam engine. In a live AR video call, we visualized the data. It was really cool!

The ETSI Industry Specification Group ARF was launched by ETSI on 30th November 2017 to define a framework for the interoperability of AR applications and services. 18 companies have now joined the initiative.

The workshop is free to attend and will be conducted in English.

• Registration from 8:30am
• Start time 09:00am,
• End time: 12:30pm

The action-packed agenda for the morning’s workshop is as follows:

1. Welcome Note
2. “ISG ARF objectives and workplan”, Muriel Deschanel (chair) and ISG ARF management team
3. “Results of the 2018 survey on industrial use cases” conducted by the ISG, Nicole Leminous (ISG ARF)
4. “AR in the 4th Industrial Revolution – a UK perspective”, Professor Rab Scott, Head of Digital, The Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre
5. “Delivering Interactive Operating Manuals into Welsh Water – Utilising VR, AR & MR”, Glen Peek, Works Operating Manual Team Manager, Welsh Water
6. “The AR ecosystem in the UK – interoperability needs”, Steve Dann, Founder & CEO, Amplified Robot, Founder of London AR meetup group
7. “Overview of the first draft of the ISG ARF interoperability framework”, Jérôme Royan (ISG ARF)
8. “GSMA Cloud AR/VR initiative” – Kelvin Qin, Senior Project Manager, GSMA
9. “Update on the AREA – AR for Enterprise Alliance”, Mark Sage, Executive President

To register please contact: Sylwia Korycinska, Sylwia.korycinska@etsi.org

2018 was supposed to be a year where the foundational tech for augmented reality was built out a bit and the industry took a couple big leaps. Things started off well-enough, but momentum really doesn’t seem be on the side of some of the industry’s heaviest hitters heading into 2019, suggesting that life for earlier-stage startups may not be much easier.

There are plenty of reasons to be long-term bullish on AR, but the time horizons some have espoused seems to be bogus and pitch decks organized around a near-term spike in phone-based or glasses-based users are going to have a tougher time being taken seriously in 2019.

Some of the points raised in the article include:

• Whether Magic Leap hindered progress in the AR industry by siphoning investor attention and discouraging other hardware startups from joining the fray in the face of a billions-backed unknown.
• Are solved tech problems stuck in limbo waiting for a problem that makes them worthwhile?
• Known platform fundamentals are still being tackled.
• Issues like segmenting environments by objects and accurately identifying them are still in the earliest stages.
• Whether the hardware is small enough yet

Many other points and discussions are raised in this comprehensive article.

Of the coming year, Mark Sage, Executive Director said:

“As we head into 2019 and we look forward to continued growth in the ecosystem. More enterprises are researching, developing pilots and /or moving towards commercialising AR technology and gaining great ROI.  Thank you to all our members, partners and associates for being a part of this exciting journey and development during 2018.  I look forward to working with you to see what the new year will bring for AR in the enterprise.”

We would like to wish all our followers, readers, associates, colleagues, staff, leaders and members a very Happy New Year.

In the section on augmented reality, it is stated:

“When it comes to augmented reality, we often think of Pokémon Go and other such games.

However, the technology has grown far beyond the gaming and entertainment sectors.

In this article, we look at popular use cases of augmented reality in the business world.

Manufacturing, education, health care, marketing, fashion, travel, navigation, retail, food and beverage, and enterprise — these are all industries using AR.”

The article links to use cases of AR in the enterprise.

SACMI has decided to perform a global roll-out of XMReality Remote Guidance to its customers, thus strengthening its service offering and making it possible to generate new revenue streams. With the use of XMReality’s easy web client access they’ll be able to collaborate with a wider group of end users. SACMI will equip their help-desk staff with XMReality PointPads.

“Over recent years, SACMI has constantly invested resources to strengthen Customer Service and so help customers maximize the extraordinary performance provided by our machines”, explains Giuseppe Lesce, manager of the SACMI Customer Service Division. “From this viewpoint, XMReality is a further step in this direction. This augmented reality system’s combination of outstanding effectiveness and simplicity will, in fact, let us supply an advanced assistance service with ease, providing enormous added value for our customers worldwide”

“We are excited to help SACMI generate new revenue streams using XMReality Remote Guidance. The new web client has, since the October 2018 launch, enabled new ways of using XMReality Remote Guidance and SACMI is one of our first customers to take advantage of it.”, stated Johan Castevall, CEO of XMReality.

The order includes XMReality Remote Guidance software, XMReality PointPads, and XMReality Web client. The software value is approximately 0.4 MSEK annual recurring revenue and the roll-out will start in January 2019.

See more:

Full press release 

XMReality’s member profile

Information about all the following investments and videos can be found in the full comprehensive write up:

WaveOptics $26 million

CTRL_Labs $28 million

Varjo 30 million

Ubility6 37.5m million

Mojo Vision 50 million

WayRay 80 million

Rokid 100 million

Niantic 200 million

Magic Leap 461 million

Epic Games 1.25 billion