Thread by @kentbye

I'm watching #Vivecon, where @htcvive is announcing 2 new VR HMDs (embargo lifted at 9a).
@RtoVR has specs on the Vive Focus 3, enterprise-oriented, $1,300 price, 120° FoV, new controllers, (2,448 x 2,448) per-eye, swappable battery.
roadtovr.com/htc-vive-focus…

2/ @Htcvive's single one-off cost of $1300 for Vive Focus 3 is interesting since Oculus Quest 2 for Business is $799, but I believe Facebook requires some additional recurring subscription requirements for their Workplace for Facebook & perhaps more.

3/ Vive Business was announced at #Vivecon.
New app Vive Sync was added to their Vive XR Suite.
New Vive Business App Store to sell enterprise XR apps.
New Vive Business Device Management System.
[A number of these do have subscription options, bringing parity to Oculus]

4/ New Vive Business Training was announced as well.

5/ New Vive ISV Partner (Independent Software Vendor) program was announced at #Vivecon as well with these initial partners.

6/ There's a virtual ISV Hall at #Vivecon with virtual booths with 23 of the Vive ISV partners, but it's just a link to an email or a place to schedule an appointment.

7/ New Vive Pro 2 VR HMD also announced at #Vivecon this morning. Specs via @rtovr: 2,448×2,448 (6.0MP) per-eye (2x LCD), Dual-element Fresnel lenses, 120° diagonal FoV, 120Hz refresh rate, $800, June 3 release w/ pro-orders now:
roadtovr.com/htc-vive-pro-2…

8/ The full #Vivecon keynote is now posted online now if you missed @HtcVive's announcements of #ViveFocus3, #VivePro2, & #ViveBusiness.

9/ Another note from #Vivecon is @htcvive announced "Vive Reality System 2.0" new core software.
They showed a timeline of their hardware releases, & emphasized how they're selling complete solutions to a variety of different industry verticals.

10/ One of the advantages that @htcvive has over Oculus is their support for external peripherals like their tracking pucks & facial tracking. The Vive trackers have been getting a lot of good use in social VR apps like @VRChat & @Frooxius, but also tons of other industry apps.

11/ The #V2EC2021 @htcvive gathering is about to get started in @vreducation's #engagevr.
There's a little confusion about the timing, but I doubled checked that this is different than Day 2 of #Vivecon sessions happening tomorrow.

12/ So far this #V2EC2021 event in #engagevr this evening is the same as the opening #Vivecon press conference this morning, except it's all in Chinese. Not sure if there's an English version, or this is meant for the Chinese market (cc @AGraylin)

13/ The #V2EC2021 event is in Chinese with some English slides.
They're showing some stuff they didn't show in the #Vivecon version this morning like usages stats, customer surveys showing the importance of long-term use & higher res, @Frooxius face-tracking vids, & some VR apps.

14/ @AGraylin showed some additional slides on the Vive Facial Tracker and how it increases emotional expressiveness, as well the applications for virtual production as well as for #Vtubers. A virtual avatar named VEE appeared and said something, but it was all in Chinese.

15/ The #V2EC2021 conf also showed that the Vive Focus 3 having some hand tracking capability, which was one of the questions that came out of this morning's session. We'll need to have some independent evaluation of it to see how robust it is.

16/ I also don't remember any mention of Vive Business Streaming on this morning's stream. We'll either be learning more about this tomorrow during the #Vivecon sessions, or some of these features could be exclusive to the Chinese ecosystem.

17/ More info on the Vive XR Suite (with a free 3-month trial), and how the Vive Focus 3 will come with a free 6 months of Vive Sync.

18/ Vive XR Ecosystem chart. I've heard of Vive, Viveport, Vive XR Suite, & Vive X. Have not heard much about Vive Arts (democratize creation with digital innovation in the arts), Vive Events (virtual event production), ViveLand (LBE provider), or Vive Wave (VR Open Platform).

19/ Droolon F2 Eye Tracking Module for Vive Focus 3 & Vive Pro 2 announced for 3rd Quarter 2021 for $299 by @AGraylin at #V2EC2021 in #EngageVR.

20/ Some slides from #V2EC2021 talking on the future of work, Vive's collaboration with @AccentureTech, some of the XR investement trends, and an aspirational graphic about virtual travel.

21/ #V2EC2021 XR trends according to @htcvive: Lots of stuff going virtual including meetings, the offie, schools, events, sports, travel, celebrities, more real avatars, digital interactions becoming more real, sci-fi getting more real, time with family more real.

22/ Here's a bit more context on @Accenture's announcement that they're going to be providing hardware & software solutions in collaboration with @Htcvive. Not a lot more details, but Accenture has certainly been on the leading edge of enterprise XR.

23/ This last section likely covered a lot of the same Vive Business stuff first announced this morning (see #3 below).
But as most of the talk and slides were in Chinese, so it's hard to know if there's new stuff that's specific to the Chinese ecosystem.

24/ Section on @viveport at #V2EC2021, which is still the only place to subscribe to VR content. Feel free to add more context in the comments what else is being said here.

25/ Section about enterprise adoption of VR. Oddly they're citing GfK China Online data rather than their own data. Not sure it's an implicit endorsement, but the graphs don't have any scale or details.
Provided some details on Vive's Sales Structure.

26/ Different Contexts in Vive Ecosystem
1. Business Development Core
2. Support & Service / Developer (tech assistance & dev of Vive products, test latest tech, XR ecological coop, owner service)
3. Total Solution / Customer (promote content, standards, govt coop)

27/ Some more context on @Vive's Business-to-Business markets including B2B Enterprise, B2B arcade and Business-to-Government including Education & Military training. @V2EC2021.

28/ @HugoSwart_QCOM talked about @Qualcomm's Four-Pillar Strategy for XR, and some specs on the XR2 chip within the Vive Focus 3 (which is the same chip in the Oculus Quest 2).
@RecRoom got a shout out for being the first VR software unicorns with it's $1B valuation.

29/ More slides about Vive Business & their Independent Software Vendor program (Vive ISV). HP gets a mention in a number of the slides. But again, most of it was in Chinese.

30/ Extended discussion between @AGraylin, China President of HTC and Chen Wu, Managing Director of the Economist Global Gusiness Review. It was entirely in Chinese, except for the phrase like Zoom fatigue, Virtual Market, Clubhouse, or Digital twin.

31/ Vive Arts Retrospective of shows from around the world. (1/6)
Starting with the Tate Modern

32/ Vive Arts Retrospective of shows from around the world. (2/6)
Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris
A VR art piece called "1908"

33/ Vive Arts Retrospective of shows from around the world. (3/6)
The Louvre, Paris

34/ Vive Arts Retrospective of shows from around the world. (4/6)
V&A Museum, London with art by Kristjana Williams & Dominique Gonzales-Foerster

35/ Vive Arts Retrospective of shows from around the world. (5/6)
Rising by Marina Abramović
Fall, Into Yourself by Anish Kapoor
Laurie Anderson & Hsin-Chien Huang Interview: A Trip to the Moon

36/ Vive Arts Retrospective of shows from around the world. (6/6)
Endodrome by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster

37/ The next section ended up being quite an extensive design retrospective by V&A Museum curator Kate Bailey of the piece ALICE: CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER showing from 22 May to 31 Dec. I'll break it up into 4 sections (1/4)

38/ ALICE: CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER Design Retrospective by V&A Museum curator Kate Bailey (2/4)
Surprising shout out to psychedelic artists to the Chinese audience is when I realized that this likely wasn't a Vive employee.
Overall, the tone of this section was way different.

39/ ALICE: CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER Design Retrospective by V&A Museum curator Kate Bailey (3/4)
A weird part of this section was that they accidentally played both the English version & Chinese translation at the same time. I grokked some it. It was also a super detailed review.

40/ ALICE: CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER Design Retrospective by V&A Museum curator Kate Bailey (4/4)
Hopefully the English version of this talk ends up online as there's a lot to digest on the design evolution of this specific piece, but also a bit beyond the scope of covering it here.

41/ Closing remarks were made by Xiaoya Chen, Executive Vice President of CIUR and Former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science and Technology.
Her remarks were in Chinese, but attached is a quote from Vive's press release.

42/ Here's a Press Release from @HTCVive from their Vive Ecosystem Conference. Most of the big hardware news with Vive Focus 3 & Vive Pro 2 was already announced at #Vivecon this morning, but there's a bit more context on some of their partnerships + their VEE virtual character.

43/ The VIVE Virtual Ecosystem Conference (#V2EC2021) ended with the Vive plane that we rode in on taxi'ing down a runway away from us, and then taking off right over us.

END/ Here's the video of #Vivecon announcements today.
Some new stuff covered at #V2EC2021 tonight, but also lots of overlap.
There's lots of new announcements on their Vive Business enterprise software offerings + other software & service subscriptions.