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The Future Of VR As Told By Oculus, Google, PlayStation Execs
Loading the player… At this week’s Vision Summit for virtual reality and augmented reality in Hollywood, executives from Facebook ( FB )-owned Oculus, Alphabet ( GOOGL )-owned Google and Sony ( SNE )-owned PlayStation shared their insights about the future of VR. Oculus founder Palmer Luckey said that both hardware and software developers need to be successful for VR to be prosperous, with two key measures of success being dollars spent on content and hours spent playing content. Oculus Headset and Rift-ready PC bundles will go on presale next Tuesday, starting at $1,499. Oculus is offering the bundles at a discounted rate to get more gear out there. Google’s VP of VR, Clay Bavor, pressed the point that the Internet giant’s goal is “VR for everyone.” He said that some 5 million of the cheap Google Cardboard viewers — which use smartphones to show VR content — had shipped as of the end of 2015, with 30 million Google Play Store app downloads. He said that there’s “similar momentum” on Apple ( AAPL ) iOS. Google is also working in the augmented reality space with its Project Tango, which enables mobile devices “to navigate the physical world similar to how we do as humans.” Sony is one of the companies working with NASA on robot control and space exploration demos. Microsoft ’s ( MSFT ) HoloLens is also said to have space applications. Dr. Richard Marks, the director of PlayStation Magic Lab, said that Sony’s VR platform will have the capability to be used with other entertainment content besides games, including movies, painting, sculpting and potentially even live concerts.
PC Market Slump Drags On HP Ahead Of Fiscal Q1 Report
Personal computer and printer maker HP Inc. ( HPQ ) continues to slump on diminished prospects for the PC market in 2016. HP stock on Thursday fell to its lowest level since it split from the former Hewlett-Packard on Nov. 1. HP shares were down 3% near 9 in afternoon trading on the stock market today . Earlier in the session, the stock fell as low as 8.92. HP had climbed as high as 14.82 post-split. RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani on Thursday maintained his sector perform rating on HP stock but cut his price target to 11 from 13. He also lowered his estimates for HP’s fiscal 2016 “to reflect weaker market fundamentals.” “Recent PC-centric data points suggest to us that not just demand is soft, but there is also a continued PC inventory overhang, especially in Europe, that could negatively impact results in first half 2016,” Daryanani said in a report. “Similarly, we think both the print hardware and supplies businesses could have muted outlooks for fiscal 2016, based on Canon ( CAJ ) results/outlook and (foreign-exchange) movement.” HP is scheduled to report fiscal-first-quarter results after the market close on Feb. 24. HP executives have said the PC market will be challenging for several quarters but had expressed optimism for the second half of 2016. They had hoped Microsoft ’s ( MSFT ) Windows 10 operating system would help drive PC sales, particularly with enterprise customers, later in the year. “HP should see challenging growth dynamics through fiscal 2016 on foreign-currency translation headwinds, competitive industry pricing, and PC channel inventory issues,” Daryanani said. On Wednesday, Sterne Agee CRT analyst Rob Cihra reiterated his neutral rating on HP stock but cut his price target to 11 from 14. “While global PC demand remains weak and supply/demand negative starting calendar 2016, we actually believe HP’s PC inventories are in better shape than most, an ironic product of its weaker share in China,” Cihra said in a report. “But we still see a particularly weak start to the year.” Cihra is forecasting the PC market will unit declines of about 5% year over year in 2016, but HP could offset the industry decline through market share gains as the top-tier players continue to consolidate. The cash-cow printing business looks even weaker than PCs this year, Cihra said. On Tuesday, Pacific Crest Securities analyst Brent Bracelin maintained his sector weight rating on HP stock but lowered his estimates for HP for this year and next based on “eroding PC and printing fundamentals.” RELATED: Apple Bucks Declining PC Sales Trend HP Inc. Q4 Earnings Exposes Dark Side Of PC business .