Virtual Perceptions

By Tom Ffiske // 30 April 2020New to the newsletter? 

"Tom, this newsletter is coming out a day later. Why?"Because of a big announcement, embargoed 'til now. It's a fun story, and I felt it was worth it. Read more at the Big Story below..."

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THE BIG STORY

Read more about it here.

PEOPLE MOVES

• Zillah Watson became Satore's Director of Content. Zillah was previously Commissioning Editor for Virtual Reality at the BBC and headed up the BBC’s VR studio.

• Digital Catapult appoints Ofcom's Joe Butler as Chief Technology Officer. Joe will be responsible for overseeing growth and development across Digital Catapult’s focus technology areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning, immersive, 5G and the internet of things, and distributed systems.

• Cognitant will be adding three new members to their team: Emma Bishop, Head of Content; Fynn Nelder-Hunt, Software Developer; and John Vernon, Business Development Director. Bishop and Vernon both come from medical backgrounds, with Vernon having worked in global pharma, and Nelder-Hunt’s technological background will help develop Healthinote’s immersive content.

If your company has a significant move, send me an email and I will add it to the next edition.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSORS

This can be you! Want to be seen at the forefront of the VR and AR community? Contact me today, and we can talk through how I can best help you. Please email [email protected].

OTHER STORIES

• Liberty Games, a games room retailer, created 3D models of some of their products using 3DS Max. This allows customers to view the table from any angle in their home.

• VRtuoso hi one million immersive VR learning users and secured follow-on funding from Symvan Capital and CBI. Well done!

• EON Reality announced the addition of Rikard Steiber to its global Advisory Board. He was the previous President of Viveport.

VIRTUAL PERCEPTIONS STORYWITH OUR WITHOUT COVID-19, MAGIC LEAP WAS CHANGING COURSE

On 22 April, Magic Leap announced that they were laying off employees to cope with the COVID-19 crisis. The official blog did not give any specific numbers, but Bloomberg reported that it was about 1000; that’s a thousand families and friends devastated by the business decision. All talented and hard-working, a rainy day came for the USA-based company. The layoffs coincide with a change of course, away from its consumer ventures towards enterprise matters.Like many other businesses, COVID-19 drastically impacted Magic Leap and forced its hand with its decisions. But these decisions were coming anyway. Magic Leap was going through some troubled times, and changes were likely coming down the line. While COVID-19 was the straw that broke the camel’s back, the camel was already carrying a lot of capital (and emotional) baggage.This is not a bad thing. I am a massive fan of the company, and have supported it for many years. I also believe in its potential, as it supplied some of my favourite immersive experiences in my time writing in the industry. But in terms of profitability, the changes were likely coming for a long time.

Click here to read more.

LEO GEBBIE - THE IMMERSIVE WIRE INTERVIEW

Leo Gebbie is a Wearables and Extended Reality Analyst at CCS Insight, joining the company over a year ago to track all that is happening across both industries. Leo explores his current smartwatches, some of his favourite immersive events he attended, and his Animal Crossing island.

Listen to the episode on the Immersive Wire Podcast: