$100k on kickstart to spawn 100m users of Wearality

With four days left to go, virtual reality lens and HMD maker Wearality‘s Kickstarter for it’s Wearality Sky project has passed it’s $100k Kickstarter goal. 

"Wearality’s goal is to have 100 million people eventually using its lenses, which is an ambitious endeavor, but passing this Kickstarter goal is the first step in realizing it." says CEO Michael Jones, who prior to Wearality was the chief technology officer for Google Maps and served as Google’s chief technology advocate. He calls Sky, “everyman VR”, and intends on having the lenses available to retailers that sell smartphones and related accessories later on this year. 

Points of Difference

- Wearality’s Fresnel-based lenses is its field of view. While most lenses today have 110 degrees FOV, Wearality’s product offers 150 degrees.

- affordability- The lenses on the Wearality Sky are affordable enough for the average smartphone user. 

"The lenses are compatible with most smartphone screens ranging from 5 to 6 inches. Because there is no enclosure, the Sky is foldable and thus portable.  Jones said the Sky’s relatively low cost (they are currently available on Kickstarter for $69) . “Just watching movies on YouTube will be a lot better for them,” says Jones and intends on having the lenses available to retailers that sell smartphones and related accessories later on this year. 

“We’re building a very nice, incredibly inexpensive production unit that will be in phone stores and malls branded white label as 3D glasses for your smartphone this fall,” he said.

Daniel Cawrey - Silicon Valley's COO of ZapChain, (which is a community of top virtual reality experts, says  "Compared to available headset lenses with consumer appeal such as the Samsung Gear, it was a more immersive experience with the wider field of view helping to correct for the binocular effect I occasionally feel on the Gear VR. "

Interesting times