2017 was a year of great growth, both in the virtual reality industry and at InstaVR in particular. As we approach our 2nd anniversary, we wanted to reflect on all of the wonderful milestones our team and clients have attained in the past year. Thank you for supporting InstaVR over the last 12 months!
January 2017 –
Presenting at Future of Educational Technology Conference (FETC)
In January, we exhibited and presented at the Future of Educational Technology Conference (FETC) in Orlando. It was our first education-only conference, and a great opportunity to meet face-to-face with a lot of educators and technology specialists. The feedback we got has helped shape our approach to this particular market. Stay tuned for some additional ed-focused platform changes in 2018!
Read more about how teachers are bringing InstaVR into classrooms.
***************************************************************************************************
February 2017 –
Launching HTC Vive Compatibility with Flagship User Toyota
In February, we launched publishing compatibility with HTC Vive for our InstaVR Pro customers. As part of that announcement, we introduced client Toyota’s use of our platform, for creating immersive guided towards in VR to be presented on HTC Vive at college job fairs.
Read more about our HTC Vive publishing availability and Toyota’s use of InstaVR.
***************************************************************************************************
February 2017 –
Co-Presenting with Ricoh Theta on How to Launch a VR Business at Stanford University
In February, we visited Stanford University to give a talk on how people can create their own VR businesses leveraging 360 cameras and InstaVR. The talk — sponsored by our friends at the THETA Unofficial Guide — was a nice opportunity to meet with aspiring VR entrepreneurs. As VR has gone mainstream, the opportunity to build entire companies on the technology, using InstaVR, has increased tremendously.
Read a recap of our talk to entrepreneurs on the Stanford campus.
***************************************************************************************************
February 2017 –
Sanrio’s Hello Kitty Brand Selects InstaVR
Capping off a busy February, we publicly announced that Sanrio had selected InstaVR to create interactive 360 tours of their Puroland theme park. The series of VR apps, built for the Gear VR platform, are used by the marketing team at Hello Kitty to encourage overseas travel agents to book travel to Puroland.
Read more about how Sanrio’s Hello Kitty brand uses InstaVR to garner more travel bookings.
***************************************************************************************************
March 2017 –
Exhibiting at SXSW
We returned for our second year exhibiting at SXSW. Easily one of our favorite conferences, SXSW brings together a global group of tech enthusiasts to Austin, Texas. VR was featured throughout the conference, and we went to a number of breakout sessions where were able to meet with industry leaders.
Watch Useful Usability interview us at SXSW on the conference floor.
***************************************************************************************************
March 2017 –
InstaVR Client Left of Creative Celebrated for their VR App Showcasing the US Navy
InstaVR users Left of Creative were featured on the US Navy’s official site, talking about the interactive tour they put together of the USS Carl Vinson. The VR tour, showcased at the largest Naval convention of the year, was a huge hit for visitors to the booth.
***************************************************************************************************
April 2017 –
InstaVR Launches Content Partnership with VentureBeat
InstaVR was selected in April to be a content provider for the exclusive VR Champions Network, providing bi-monthly content to be syndicated across web properties VentureBeat has relationships with. To date, we’ve published five in depth articles on how VR is impacting industries such as training, marketing, education and more.
Read our VR Champions Network industry articles here and here.
***************************************************************************************************
April 2017 –
Launching Spatial Audio Support
In April, we launched support for Spatial Audio. For our more advanced Pro users, who want to fully capture the benefits of 360 media, spatial audio is an important part of the overall user experience.
***************************************************************************************************
May 2017 –
Launch of “InstaVR Interviews”, a Blog Series Consisting of Client Interviews
In May, we launched a new blog series of customer interviews, titled “InstaVR Interviews”. These help our clients learn from each other, focusing on how they capture their VR media, how InstaVR helps them turn images and videos into VR experiences, and how they distribute the finished VR apps.
To date, we’ve had interviews with a diverse group of clients, including TUI Group (travel), ORDRE (fashion), Emporia State University (education), Premise LED (business), Dusk (agency/production), and more.
(Also, if you’d like to be featured, let our Customer Support team know over Live Chat. We’re always looking for new, interesting uses of InstaVR!)
***************************************************************************************************
May 2017 –
Launch of Google Daydream + Hand Controller Compatibility
Coinciding with Google I/O, we launched publishing compatibility with Google’s Daydream headset. Along with this announcement as the release of hand controller compatibility for both Daydream and Gear VR. We’re expecting big things for Daydream in 2018, as the number of phones that work with the headset expand considerably. Daydream is worth a look if you want a good headset at a reasonable price.
Read about our launch of Google Daydream and Hand Controller compatibility.
***************************************************************************************************
May 2017 –
InstaVR Exhibits at Augmented World Expo
We kicked off May be exhibiting at Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara. One of the largest industry expos, it was a great opportunity to interact with some very serious VR enthusiasts. We look forward to hopefully going back to the event in 2018!
***************************************************************************************************
June 2017 –
Launch of HTC Vive Publishing Compatibility with Macs
Some of our favorite Pro customers publish to HTC Vive. One of the big knocks on the platform was the inability to pair up the headset with Macs. So there was a great amount of relief and joy when we launched our Mac-compatible HTC Vive publishing in May.
Read more about the launch of HTC Vive + Mac compatible publishing using InstaVR Pro.
June 2017 –
Launch of Long-Form 360 Video Streaming
As VR has matured as a platform, the number of users creating long-form 360 video has expanded. To accommodate these power users, we launched in June a streaming VR service to allow for longer-form VR experiences.
Read more about our launch of support for long-form VR video streaming.
***************************************************************************************************
June 2017 –
Launch of 180-degree Video Support
180-degree video is going to get a lot more press in 2018, as Google helps co-launch a number of cameras specifically built to capture that format. We got ahead of the curve by launching support for 180-degree video in June. Particularly for use cases such as training, you’ll see a lot more 180 videos, which don’t require as much data capture and stream faster.
Read more about our launch of 180-degree video compatibility.
***************************************************************************************************
July 2017 –
Exhibiting at Campus Technology Conference in Chicago
Our college and university users are some of the most innovative and passionate VR creators. So it was great to head out to Chicago and exhibit at Campus Technology Conference. There’s a lot of interest at the higher ed level, as schools focus on innovative uses of virtual reality within their STEM programs.
***************************************************************************************************
July 2017 –
Launch of InstaVR Live Previewer
One of our main focuses in 2017 was making our clients more productive. That means introducing features that allow clients to improve their apps faster. Live Previewer does just that — allowing clients to view their in-progress apps on Gear VR, iOS, and Android as they build them. If you haven’t tried it, it’s definitely worth a download to make your app authoring more productive.
***************************************************************************************************
August 2017 –
WebVR Included in our Free Version, Plus Facebook Sharing Made Easy
In August, we added WebVR as a feature that our Free users could take advantage of. Previously, WebVR was reserved only for InstaVR Pro customers, and Web Embed still requires Pro subscription. In addition, we architected WebVR to allow for easy sharing on Facebook, including image and description preview.
To celebrate the launch, we put together a WebVR Facebook sharing contest, rewarding our clients who put together and shared their interesting WebVR media. The contest was a great success — thanks to all who participated!
***************************************************************************************************
October 2017 –
Oculus Go Announcement + InstaVR Support
October saw Oculus announce their upcoming Oculus Go standalone headset. The eagerly anticipated headset will retail for $199 USD and launch in Q1. We took the opportunity to validate that InstaVR will be able to publish to the headset from launch date. Stay tuned for some interesting Oculus Go announcements coming from InstaVR in 2018!
***************************************************************************************************
October 2017 –
Pilot City Teacher Externships in Oakland
2017 saw the beginning of a very fun and interesting partnership with Pilot City, allowing teachers in the Alameda County of Education to use InstaVR in their classrooms. As part of the Pilot City program, we hosted an on-site teacher externship in San Leandro. The response from both the teachers and students to VR was fantastic!
***************************************************************************************************
October 2017 –
Launch of Guided Co-Viewing Module
October saw the launch of one of our most exciting InstaVR Pro add-on modules — Guided VR Co-Viewing. This feature set allows an Administrator to control VR experiences live and remotely. Great for training, education, real estate tours, and more.
Read more about how VR Guided Co-Viewing works and how you can purchase it.
***************************************************************************************************
November 2017 –
New Customer Success Stories — Emporia State University, Zimmer Biomet Dental, Premise LED
One of our bigger initiatives in 2017 that will continue into 2018 is highlighting the work of our clients. November saw us publish a number of great Customer Interviews and Customer Success Stories. Included in that list are Emporia State University, Zimmer Biomet Dental, and Premise LED. If you haven’t read these, they’re worth a few minutes of your time to learn how companies and organizations are leveraging VR.
***************************************************************************************************
November 2017 –
Launch of Heatmaps 2.0, Which Include Live Heatmaps, 3D Heatmaps, and Grid-based Heatmaps
Heatmaps have always been a feature of InstaVR that have generated a lot of interest. With that in mind, we launched a new and improved version of heatmaps in November. The new version includes features such as live heatmaps + 3d heatmaps, plus the ability to export to CSV and image file. We’re excited to see how our clients will use heatmaps to improve their VR experiences and businesses.
***************************************************************************************************
Check back in a few weeks for our 2018 InstaVR + VR Industry Preview. Thanks a lot for all of your support in 2017 to help us grow to over 20,000 InstaVR users!
