
Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2019. Read them in this 11th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed by Alex Hertel, CEO and co-founder of Xperiel
How Sports Betting, AR, IoT will Transform Entertainment and Soften the Economic Downturn
According to Xperiel CEO and cofounder Alex Hertel, 2019 will bring an explosion of AR adoption and integration with legacy technologies. It will transform the way consumers interact with the environment around them and with brands. From changing how we interact with our favorite sports teams through interactive predictive gaming and sports betting, to grassroots access to app development softening the blow of the next major economic downturn, this year will herald a tipping point in consumer tech adoption that will enhance the human experience in new ways. Read on for Alex’s 2019 predictions.
- Three-quarters of sports venues
will feature some kind of augmented reality experience for fans in
2019: In 2018 sports teams saw attendance
dropping at live sports games-and empty seats aren't good for business.
The modern fan wants immersive experiences and to stay connected with
teams in novel ways. Taking the cue from teams like the NFL's San
Francisco 49ers, the NBA's Sacramento Kings and the NHL's San
Jose Sharks, in 2019, three-quarters of sports venues will have some
form of augmented reality deployed to meet the expectations of the modern
fan for new experiences that keep them entertained and coming back for
more.
- The rise of grassroots AR and VR
development will lead to the mass adoption of this technology: Although both augmented reality and
virtual reality have been around for a few years, mass adoption feels far
away. Consumers cite the high price of VR gear leading to their
disillusionment, while businesses cite the prohibitive expense of
developing VR and AR apps. As AR and VR content and app creation becomes
democratized - for example through graphical programming language Pebbles
from Xperiel that enables anyone, anywhere to create device-agnostic apps
- these technologies will become more accessible to more people, driving a
Cambrian explosion in AR and VR. No longer will the mechanisms of
immersive tech be confined to Silicon Valley or those with expensive
technical degrees.
- Millennials vs Big Tech: citizens
will reject technology without built-in privacy protections: Data privacy has become an
increasingly polarizing topic and has gone mainstream. This year, the EU
implemented GDPR and Facebook's data privacy scandal involving Cambridge
Analytica and the 2016 U.S. presidential election came to light. As we
enter 2019, the public-in particular Millennials-will lead the charge for
data privacy, only purchasing technologies with built-in privacy
protections. A study found that Millennials are
"more likely to use new tools to find out if their data has been stolen"
and that 45 percent of Millennials do not trust companies to keep their
personal data safe. Tech companies are responding by building products
that prioritize data privacy, like HP's new laptop with built-in privacy screen.
- Tech and politics make an even more
potent cocktail: In
2019, expect tech to get even more political. With tech talent moving away
from Silicon Valley and into neighboring states and the nation's
heartland, we are seeing tech hubs thrive in states including Wyoming, Ohio and Nevada in part due to Silicon
Valley's climbing cost of living. But what about going international? As
we approach the next economic downturn, expect our government to debate
policies that would stifle technological innovation and drive tech talent
to move out of the United States to nations with more favorable
regulations. At the same time, American inventors and entrepreneurs will
keep the spectre of such possible regulations in mind as they decide where
to build their companies, making pre-emptive bets on starting their
companies abroad.
- AI, IoT, AR and VR tech will soften
the blow in the next economic downturn and accelerate the upswing: If history is any indicator, the
world is about due for a downturn, and when the inevitable happens, tech
will generate new job opportunities that soften the impact. The
democratization and proliferation of application development in domains
spanning AI, IoT, AR and VR will lead that charge and help us boomerang
into the next upswing. With more of the public having access to resources
needed to create commercial products with these technologies across the globe,
new jobs and new markets will be born that will fuel the next global
economic growth period.
- Great Expectations: the resurgence
of substance over brevity:
2018 was the year of the podcast. The more than 550,000 available podcasts reflect a
fascinating shift in consumer preference towards long-form content over
shorter content. It's substance over brevity again - after all, you can
only say so much with 280 fleeting characters. A lot has been said about
the demise of the attention span, but people are becoming fatigued of too
much short form content. As attention spans begin to rise in 2019, so will
the bar for entertainment. But since consumer choices keep increasing,
brands need to develop new consumer engagement strategies by creating
immersive experiences rather than expecting old school passive consumption
from the public, or they risk being left behind.
-
Sports gambling becomes
less of a gamble-the inevitable regulation of sports betting: In May 2018, the Supreme
Court delivered a landmark ruling whereby states can now
legalize sports betting. With legislative sessions beginning in January 2019, expect to see more states join Nevada,
Delaware, New Jersey, Mississippi, West Virginia, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and
Rhode Island, in the legalization of statewide sports betting. But with great
power, comes great responsibility: who is responsible for regulating sports
betting to make sure that coaches, players or team owners can't influence the
game? Look to the U.S. Congress to take the lead in the inevitable regulation
of sports betting in 2019 and beyond... but also expect sports gamblers not
taking betting regulations lying down. We will see a rift between the desires
of the gambler and the regulating bodies that could end up driving some sports
betters away. Immersive technology that engages fans will help make them stay.
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About the Author
Alex Hertel is CEO and co-founder of Xperiel. He is an entrepreneur, academic, industry innovator, and inventor who has authored many patents. Based in Silicon Valley, he is an expert in the convergence of emerging immersive technologies like augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI) to make the physical world digitally interactive. Alex holds a PhD in theoretical computer science from the University of Toronto.
Alex and his brother Philipp founded online payment technology startup Walleto, which was acquired by Google in 2013 and became the foundation for Google Wallet. In 2016, Alex and Philipp launched Xperiel to bring the Real World Web (RWW) to life, creating the universal platform for blending real-world and digital experiences.
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