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    Orange metaverse chief shares vision for the immersive future, Digital Platforms and Services

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    French operator group Orange remains bullish on the potential of the Metaverse, especially its business-to-business (B2B) potential, and is keen to develop new virtual reality (VR) that contributes to social and environmental sustainability. I’m exploring. At a media and analyst event in Paris last week, Morgan Bouchet (pictured above), the group’s global head of XR and Metaverse, shared the telecom company’s vision of seizing future opportunities for immersive technology and services. explained in detail.

    The company doesn’t want to “develop a lot of projects in VR” because every project has to ensure “a balance between social and planetary impact.” For example, the operator’s business in Spain has opened a virtual shop (announcement of this development is Click here for the Spanish version) to better understand the “future of urban boutiques,” he explained, adding that this is the type of project that needs to have guidelines related to the carbon dioxide (CO2) impact of its operations. .

    “For example, VR commerce could be a way to minimize travel when going from one place to another,” he said. To make this happen, Orange is currently looking at options for customers to visit the store and make purchases via his mobile device or VR glasses.

    “We don’t want to develop a lot of VR experiences just for communication … and the same for Web3 and blockchain, the topic of decentralization,” emphasized Bouchet.

    For example, the company has a new “Eternal Notre Dame” immersive VR experiencewas demonstrated last week in the French capital and is beneficial to society. Bouchet says it’s a “suitable for all use case” and that it’s “required from business-to-business (B2B) clients who want to explore and understand what the technology is worth and what it can be used for. We’re already seeing strong interest,” he said. The future of our business and industry.”

    According to Bouchet, the Orange Group has a saying that ‘VR is an impact machine’ and the fact that B2B customers are ‘obsessed with the power and emotion of technology’. [attached to it]” shows how accurate the saying is. So it’s no surprise that Orange believes the B2B sector holds the greatest opportunity for new revenue from immersive experiences. Bouchet highlighted the automotive industry, training and collaboration sectors as key opportunities for Metaverse-related services.

    While Orange has yet to set a revenue target for its “Eternal Notre-Dame” VR experience, Bouchet noted that it has an indirect impact on communication and relationships with its B2B clients. The company’s vision, he believes, is shared by many other carriers, that while VR is “only the first step,” it will eventually become an augmented reality (AR) device. and service are the main opportunities. Perhaps he won’t be in widespread use until 2030, but if companies want to be ready by then, for example, how does it work and what is it in terms of development and customer behavior? Bouchet noted that we need to understand what the impact is now.

    Metaverse hype

    In light of movements such as Walt Disney Reportedly shutting down Its Metaverse unit, Bouchet, has dismissed the idea that interest in the Metaverse is waning. For him, the development of the Metaverse is a matter of timing, and it is still not easy to understand whether it will include only VR, only AR, or both.

    Leo Gebbie, Principal Analyst for Connected Devices at CCS Insight, told TelecomTV that the term “metaverse” does “more bad than good” for augmented reality (XR). “After the wave of enthusiasm, the meta Accepted this term in 2021the Metaverse has become synonymous with the hype around spatial computing, with very heavy spending on technology, but these are still in their infancy and are largely unprofitable. Some companies havetily built teams that focused on them, and then completely disbanded them,” he pointed out.

    However, telco interest in VR, AR and the Metaverse remains high, with many “tying the technology’s potential to their 5G networks,” he added. “Mobile immersive computing experiences rely on high-capacity, low-latency networks and feel like a perfect fit for 5G. This is the focus.”

    And while location-based VR and AR experiences are considered “impressive,” analysts say “how carriers plan to support mobile XR experiences is a true stress test of their networks. It is interesting to see if

    Meanwhile, CCS Insight forecasts “moderate growth” for the XR industry in 2023 and a “stronger growth phase” beyond 2024 as the technology matures.

    – Yanitsa Boyadzhieva, Associate Editor, TelecomTV

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