Last month ticket marketplace Rukkus released a new feature in its app, taking a huge leap forward in making sure that the seat you pay for is the seat that you get. In keeping with the company's core mission to revolutionize the $30 billion ticketing market, Rukkus has created the first ecommerce platform that allows users to make a purchase with the aid of virtual reality with its new Seat360 feature.
Seat360 uses gyroscope-driven panoramic 360° seat views, allowing users to fully experience their seat location firsthand. This can then be further augmented when viewed through Google Cardboard or other inexpensive VR viewers. The same panoramic seat views, but without the virtual reality presentation, are available across all other platforms including the Rukkus website and the Android application. Seat360 will be available on Android in the coming weeks.
Seat360 is currently available for all of the National Hockey League (NHL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) arenas and more than half of the Major League Baseball (MLB) stadiums. The feature is in the process of becoming functional for major theater and concert venues this summer and National Football League (NFL) stadiums in the fall.
When asked where the company got the idea for this new feature, Manick Bhan, CEO/CTO of Rukkus, said, “Seat360 started as a project after surveying our customers to see what was important to them when making a ticket-purchasing decision. Ninety percent said first-person seat views were very important to them, and 81% would prefer an interactive 360 panorama to a static 2D image to help choose their seat. From these surveys we learned that many customers are hesitant when buying tickets online because they aren't confident in what their seat will be like. We sought to alleviate these concerns and be as transparent in the purchasing process as possible with Seat360.”
The new version of the Rukkus application Seat360 is available in the iOS app store now. The Android version is available through Google Play. You can also visit Rukkus online at rukkus.com.
What does this mean for the future of VR? Should I invest?
Virtual reality has been emerging as the technology of the future for quite some time. 2016 could be the year it starts to take off with products finally entering the market. Experts seem to think VR will either be a rapidly growing industry or the next tech bubble, so investing should be done with caution. I believe practical applications for VR such as Seat360 and uses in travel and hospitality is where the technology will stick. Gimmicky products and video games that require expensive headsets will have a much lower adoption rate and could ultimately fair similarly to the failure of 3D TVs.
Some VR stocks to watch are Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, Financial), GoPro Inc. (GPRO, Financial), Sony (SNE, Financial) and NVidia Corp. (NVDA, Financial). Ultimately, over the next few years virtual reality has the potential to carve out its own niche in consumer electronics if non-novelty uses are not a fad.
