Philip Thomas Mesman, why virtual reality is the new frontier

Early this week, a photo from the Barcelona launch of Samsung Galaxy 7 began circling the web.

The photo, which has drawn comparison to a scene out of Orwell’s 1984, shows a room full of

delegates and tech sector experts with small screens over their eyes attached to a headset.

The headset in fact isn’t the fodder of dystopian nightmares, but the next phase in digital

technology. Samsung’s latest flagship mobile device, the Galaxy S7, is the companion digital

device to the company’s foray into the virtual reality, or VR as it is commonly referred to,

market.

Each audience member viewed a 360-degree video of people playing freestyle soccer on the

streets of Barcelona through the VR headsets they were treated to at the launch event.

While the event was all about tech, when delegates removed their headsets, they were treated

to another surprise, when Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg took to the stage.

“Virtual reality was the next platform,” Zuckerberg told the crowd. “It’s going to change the

way we live and work and communicate.”

In recent months, a number of 360 videos have hit Facebook, one posted by Zuckerberg

himself. Utilizing cutting-edge cameras, the videos give a complete 360 view of exciting sports,

like surfing, or tours of world capitals.

360 videos are the perfect digital companion to the VR headsets that are slated for market over

the next years.

To ensure consumers choose Samsung over other mobile and VR distributors, Samsung is giving

away a Gear VR to anyone who pre-orders the new Galaxy S7. It’s a big investment for

Samsung, but may be necessary at a time when the company needs to find other avenues for

growth.

“A few of Samsung’s competitors have also announced their own plays in virtual reality:

Taiwan’s HTC announced that pre-orders for its $799 Vive headset would open at the end of

February and LG has launched its own virtual reality headset, the 360 VR,” notes Forbes

contributor Parmy Olson.

Shortly after reviews of the S7 began hitting the web. According to tech bloggers and writers

there are few spec changes to the S7. Some of the notable new features were actually ones

that had been axed from the S6, including expandable storage. Samsung is depending on

customer loyalty and the Gear VR to sell units of the S7. Last year the company sold 38 million

S6 units.

"The Galaxy S7 is slated to go on sale in 60 countries on March 11. We expect its sales to

surpass shipments of the previous model, the Galaxy S6," Samsung CEO, Dong-jin said at the

Samsung launch event in Barcelona.

It still remains to be seen if Gear VR will have the market viability Samsung expects, regardless

it is pretty cool.