VR Education Holdings PLC (LON:VRE) shares moved higher on Wednesday as it unveiled plans to launch a new 5G virtual reality (VR) device in partnership with Deutsche Telekom, US conglomerate Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Taiwanese tech group XRSPACE.
The VR technology firm said its ENGAGE platform, which allows users to construct virtual classrooms and other environments, has been selected as a launch application for the new VR headset, which is scheduled for release in the middle of next year.
The headset will allow users to move through a virtual world using a real-life looking avatar, while VRE says the device will “deliver a significant boost to the VR ecosystem through its low latency attributes”.
The new offering will be distributed exclusively through global telecom firms including Deutsche Telekom, which currently has 7mln customers in Germany, 300,000 of which use its current VR app, Magenta VR, in addition to its global customer base of 44mln.
The headset will also be powered initially by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Mobile VR platform and contain a number of social, educational, media, shopping, communications and entertainment apps.
“VR and [augmented reality] technology up to now has only appealed to very large corporations for training and the hardcore video game community. 5G deployment is about to change this mindset allowing for more immersive experiences, faster streaming services and smaller end-user devices making a currently niche product appeal to a mass market”, said VRE’s chief executive David Whelan.
“Having a leading telecom company such as Deutsche Telekom push forward with an XR offering for their new 5G customers is a welcome development and ENGAGE being part of this push on the corporate training and education side is very exciting", he added.
Analysts at VRE's house broker, Shore Capital, highlighted that the announcement followed a report this week from ResearchAndMarkets.com that said the VR and AR display market is expected to grow to US4.4bn in 2024 from US$1.6bn in 2019, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.8%.