the coming distribution war
TRANSCRIPT
Tony Parisi
The Coming
Distribution War
who will be…
The App Store for VR? The Steam of VR? The YouTube of VR? The Netflix of VR? The Console of VR?
App Stores
App Stores: The Good
Discovery User Ranking Monetization Curated content
– nobody wants bad VR… or do they?– thank you for making sure I don’t hurl– um remember that porn you
promised…?
App Stores: The Bad
Deployment, distribution and discovery are bound together– On Gear VR you can’t deploy without going through the
store, and users can’t find you outside of the store interface
– You can’t deploy Cardboard VR apps without going through a store UNLESS web (more on this later)
VR store interfaces, though good, are limited
App packaging doesn’t always make sense– A separate app for a Paul McCartney video?
Really? Curated content
– um about that porn… ?
Fun Fact!In 2013, 60% of developers were below the “app poverty line”, i.e. earned less than $500per app per month (all mobile platforms) 1
1 Developer Economics Q1 2014: State of the Nationhttp://www.visionmobile.com/product/developer-economics-q1-2014-state-developer-nation/
2 Bloomberghttp://www.bloomberg.com/bw
/articles/2014-01-07/apple-users-spent-10-billion-on-apps-in-2013
Apple’s 2013 App Store Revenues: $10B 2
Apple’s 2013 App Store Take: $3B 2
When you play the game of
apps, you win or you
die. There is no middle ground.
#thoughtfortheday
the Metaverse might be too big of an idea…
for an app store
Downloads
Downloads: The Good
Discovery, ranking – Steam’s interface works.
Monetization – PC games still making great money! Even after 30% Steam cut
Downloads: The Bad
Big downloads and installation requires core/midcore interest level and commitment
Consumers don’t like to install stuff on desktops
Fun Fact!
Valve is a private company. It doesn’t publish Steam revenues. But they must be good. And developers generally don’t
seem to be complaining.
(tries to imagine people downloading a VR
history experience on Steam)
#headdesk
Browsers
Browsers: The Good
No downloads Instant publish/update Deployment, distribution, discovery
are decoupled – the full power of the Web
HTML5 lowers barriers to entry for developers
Hyperlinks
Browsers: The Bad
Monetization – not so obvious Second-class support; WebVR
catching up to native features Performance gap, though small, is
critical for many apps Browser UIs are getting long in the
tooth, not designed for navigating the Metaverse
Uh-oh… watch out for bad VR :-o
Fun Fact!YouTube creators get $1.50-4.00/1k
views 1
1 Quorahttp://www.quora.com/How-much-money-can-you-make-on-YouTube-if-your-video-goes-viral-and-is-monetized
2 WSJhttp://www.wsj.com
/articles/viewers-dont-add-up-to-profit-for-youtube-1424897967
YouTube grossed $4B in 2014 2
#ihaveadream
creating VR will be as easy as making web
pages, sharing VR will be as simple as sending a link, and experiencing
VR happens at the touch of a button
“Winter is coming.”
Survival Strategies
Be platform-agnostic– Cross-platform solutions like WebVR, OSVR are
in their infancy– Unity’s a good bet… but you’re still cooking an
app for each platform– We could AT LEAST figure out a portable, cross-
platform video format… ?
Be platform-specific– Choose a side– If you choose well, you will live to see
another day
