Just this week, Google shipped out approximately five million units of its physical Google Cardboard tools. Just a fortnight later Google seems to be drawing a line, and highlighting its achievements so far, with the humble Google Cardboard. While some of the pictures can be quite grainy, as time passes and technology also improves, the quality of the experience is likely to improve too. While Facebook’s Oculus and Microsoft‘s HoloLens went about virtual reality with all guns ablaze, Google decided in favor a simpler viewer for virtual reality content.
The stats were shared by Clavor Bavor, the Google executive who recently shifted from his role as vice president of product management to focus on Google’s VR efforts as the vice president of virtual reality. The most popular third party Cardboard app is a mystery adventure game called A chair in a room.
Google Cardboard made its debut in 2014 and has since been offering a budget VR experience to a number of people ever since, specifically around 5 million people have purchased themselves one of Google’s (and many other’s) Cardboard VR headsets.
What about you? Have you tried Google Cardboard or another VR device? However, it wasn’t until earlier this month that the company established a division dedicated to virtual reality computing.
There are 15 job listings related to VR, and some mention positions like “Hardware Engineer, VR Camera Systems” and “Electrical Hardware Engineer”. So it’s not hard to understand why users didn’t really believe the idea of a virtual reality headset built nearly exclusively out of cardboard. This includes a post for Hardware Engineering Technical Lead Manager, and a PCB Layout Engineer. These Expeditions take place in the classroom, and allow students to tour real-world locations through virtual reality. Another is Vrse, a player from a leading VR content maker. But it does have some experience, including a built-up apps catalogue, thanks to Cardboard.
