SEOUL (MK Business News) – Samsung Group looking for a breakthrough innovation to fight a saturating smartphone market had its Samsung Venture invest in US virtual reality company Wevr that developes a VR platform by pledging $25 million together with Taiwan’s HTC and Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy.
The platform called Wevr Transport, currently in test phase, is designed to run on various virtual reality headsets through an app and on website.
VR video is currently limited for augmented roller-coaster ride or deep-sea or space exploration, and its mass adaptation is yet to be available. Wevr Transport is touted to become the next YouTube with VR experience.
Since last year, Samsung Group has been exploring the VR segment. It invested $60 million in VR startup Baobab Studio that aspires to become the Pixar of VR.
Last October, Samsung also invested in New Zealand’s 8i, which created volumetric 3D video of people in virtual reality. Last June, it invested in Fove, which is known for eye-tracking VR headsets.
A show attendee tries a pair of Samsung Gear VR virtual reality goggles during day one of the Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center – EPA
Samsung’s investment VR enterprise is to gain foothold in the new contents market as the global smartphone market nears saturated point. According to a market research firm Strategy Analytics, of the top 20 nations that account for 80 per cent of the global smartphone market, smartphone penetration rate has already reached over 50 per cent for nine including China and the United States, the top largest markets.
A market is deemed matured if supply ratio reaches over 50 per cent, and the smartphone market has already entered the stage, said Bae Eun-joon, an analyst at LG Economic Research Institute. The market growth would slow down to 7 per cent this year from 13 per cent last year, he added.
With consumers less interested in the hardware, the quality of software or contents would be the key to sustainability. For now the only lure is better battery life.
Samsung plans to draw new customers and retain existing ones through value-added software features including Samsung Pay and VR headsets. Indeed, Samsung Gear VR headsets, launched last November, are now available on four premium models – the Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 Edge 6, Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge.
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