The XR industry has been making waves with recent announcements and events from major players such as XR Awards, Microsoft, Meta and Sony.
XR Today’s Demond Cureton expressed concern over negative media coverage by popular outlets on the immersive space, highlighting the successes of individuals at all levels of XR adoption, innovation and end usage, especially in the enterprise level. However, the upcoming announcement by Apple of its consumer XR device may change the wave of opinion.
The XR Awards 2023, announced this week and judged by industry experts, showcased 16 categories and highlighted the best in XR enterprise innovation. The winners and highly commended products included HTC-Vive for the Most Innovative Product category, Pfizer Global Supply for the Virtual Reality Solution category, Lumus Vision for the Augmented Reality Solution category, Trigger XR for the Mixed Reality Solution category, Igloo Vision for the Education and Training Solution category, RealWear for the Manufacturing and Industrial Solution category, TeamViewer Frontline for the Automotive Solution category and Imvizar for the Retail and E-commerce Solution category, amongst others.
Microsoft introduced two immersive features this week for its product portfolio during its Build showcase. The update for Microsoft Mesh allows remote workers to add immersive experiences to private previews on the platform, and Teams users can connect in immersive spaces via VR headsets, smartphones and laptops. Microsoft also launched Avatars for Teams, its immersive dial-in feature for video conferencing service.
Rumours suggest that Meta could acquire licensing rights for upcoming XR hardware from Magic Leap. The deal could share intellectual property licensing and contract manufacturing to create AR-based solutions, utilising Magic Leap’s high-spec waveguide components which transmit images from processors to the headset’s lenses.
Meta faces a record-breaking fine of €1.2 billion via the EU for allegedly violating transatlantic data transfers. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) has ordered the tech giant to pay this fine for its alleged failure to safeguard data transfers from the EU to the United States, with the DPC ordering Meta Ireland to suspend any further transfer of personal data to the United States with a five-month deadline, whilst also ceasing to process data from European citizens in the US within six months.
Sony revealed its DMPC Institutions at Pinewood Studios and Los Angeles, respectively, to provide learning institutions for industry professionals and students within the VP solutions space. VP solutions utilise immersive hardware and software stacks to project realistic virtual environments as backdrops, improving on-set efficacy, creativity and collaboration by resolving common workflow pain points and saving time, money and CO2 emissions.
David Grey, Managing Director at Lux Machina, emphasised the importance of immersive tools in the hands of film production workers, highlighting VP as the “democratization of technology”.
