Oculus Boss: Augmented Reality Is All Hype

Oculus Boss: Augmented Reality Is All Hype

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality get mixed up a lot, but Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe believes that AR is over-hyped.

"It's one thing to make marketing videos, it's another to actually try the experience and say 'I want to buy that'," he argued. "Oculus Touch is an experience that's ready for consumers - we're not hyping that up with marketing videos, we're showing consumers. Most people come out saying it's something that they'd want to own, that it's something they'd want to do a lot more of. They want experiences built around that kind of user experience. That's ready today."

While Virtual Reality (VR) replaces its user's world entirely by a virtual one, Augmented Reality (AR) modifies his view of reality by superimposing computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or data.

Iribe argued that Augmented Reality tech demos only give an idea about the technology's potential rather than a specific product that can be used today. Moreover, he believes that the primary market for AR might well be professionals and businesses.

"It's not compelling enough for mass-market consumers yet," Iribe said. "That could change at any time. Oculus changed it with a Kickstarter. It could change at any time, but it's not there yet."