Goldman Sachs Predicts that Augmented Reality Technology Will be Disruptive
Goldman Sachs has released its first important analysis of the Augmented Reality market. Although it differs in some respects from the views of the AR for Enterprise Alliance (AREA) members, it states that companies in the AR ecosystem are on the verge of a very big trend. More specifically, the report’s authors, led by Goldman analyst Heather Bellini, state that the combination of AR and VR have the potential to become the next big computing platform. This platform, which is loosely described as it encompasses all VR and AR technologies, will create new markets and that many existing markets will, in the process, be disrupted.
The 58-page report predicts that consumers will be spending very large sums to use Virtual Reality products and content in the next year. It also contains forecasts of the size and timing of hardware and software sales over the next 10 years. Unfortunately, the forecasts do not distinguish between those products that are solely for AR and those that will be used for VR experiences, or a combination of both.
Of the nine industries studied for use cases when preparing the forecast, the largest is video gaming. Five of the industries profiled are industrial or have an industrial component: Healthcare, Education, Real Estate, Military and Engineering. Of these, the report predicts that healthcare and engineering applications will dominate revenues by 2025.
The featured example in the healthcare study is about AREA Sponsor member, Atheer, and its scenario for use of the Atheer AiR platform by medical professionals.
This analyst note is the first in the company’s new “Profiles in Innovation” series analyzing how emerging technologies are creating profit pools and disrupting old ones. For more on the series, Goldman Sachs clients can log into the Profiles in Innovation portal. Those who are not Goldman Sachs clients may read more about the report’s conclusions from news outlets such as Bloomberg and Yahoo! Finance.