VRE.L Share News (VRE)

(Sharecast News) - Virtual reality (VR) technology company VR Education announced on Wednesday that its 'ENGAGE' platform has been selected as one of a handful of titles to be a launch application for a new 5G VR head-mounted display currently being developed in partnership with Deutsche Telekom, Qualcomm Technologies and XRSPACE.
The AIM-traded firm said it was anticipated that the new 5G VR head-mounted display, which would be lighter and less bulky than its predecessors and due for launch in mid-2020, would deliver a "significant boost" to the VR ecosystem through its low latency attributes.

It said the new product would allow consumers to experience a "metaverse", where the virtual and real-world "blur", adding that instead of moving a cursor across a grid of icons to open applications as in current VR experiences, the device would offer a novel user interface where users were represented as a real-life looking avatar, as they navigated a virtual world.

The new offering would be distributed exclusively through global telecom operators, and initially include a VR head-mounted display powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon Mobile VR Platform, with content spanning communication, social, education, media, shopping, and entertainment.

"VR and augmented reality (AR) technology up to now has only appealed to very large corporations for training and the hardcore video game community," said VR Education chief executive officer David Whelan.

"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."

Whelan said the new 5G VR device was much smaller and lighter than what the company had seen in the past from other manufacturers, adding that the technology was "definitely in touching distance" of where headsets would have the same form as standard glasses.

"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."

At 1043 GMT, shares in VR Education were down 3.75% at 7.7p.