In today’s tech-oriented marketplace, content creators and curators are immensely benefited by virtual reality (VR). VR comes at a time when the demand for immersive and wholesome content is on the rise. Working along the same lines Liminal, a startup based out of Mumbai is creating content that cajoles users to re-imagine reality.
“We believe that content quality is always going to be the driving force and VR is certainly an enhancer,” Liminal Co-founder Saketh Bhagavatula remarked in an exclusive interview with TechGraph. Here’s more:
TechGraph: Tell us about your company.
Saketh Bhagavatula: We, at Liminal, create virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) solutions for consumers at an affordable price. While we agree that the Indian populace had been very slow in adapting something of this sort, however, we have observed that once it gears up, the inflow has always been immense.
Speaking particularly from the content perspective we have seen the gradual shift of Indian audience from free of charge platforms to paid content curation platform such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Videos, and others.
India has a huge potential primarily because of the sheer number of users as compared to the United States or other countries. Especially, when we look at the education sector, there are a lot of areas that can be improved and this is why the digital educational platform have been showered with dedicated users and ROI.
Speaking from the VR context, the technology will create immense repercussions if implemented properly in the Indian marketplace.
TG: Is Liminal invested in the educational space or there is more to it than meet the eyes?
SB: At this point in time, Liminal is not sector specific. Admittedly, we have created numerous modules on education and training, however, majorly we are involved in marketing-based, cinematic, musical VR experiences as well as live streaming services using VR.
Education is an arena I along with my team would love to venture into as creating VR-based educational content is going to create an immersive and holistic educational experience, which according to me is the need of the hour.
TG: Since the educational infrastructure in India is pretty much in disarray and when the majority of our population lives in rural areas wherein the infrastructure is poorer, how do you plan to cater to that audience, especially when the users are not financially affluent?
SB: The vision behind the genesis of Liminal was to provide quality VR experiences at an affordable price. We are someone that understands the Indian mindset and has the ability to enhance the popularity of this technology.
From the educational standpoint, we haven’t done much just yet, however, we plan to do so and we are devising solutions for the rural populace that are bereft of quality educational content, online or otherwise. Let me add further that VR content is very cost-effective and affordable these days. And when it comes to the education sector, it can come in handy.
When we look at the education space in India, especially in the rural areas, we encounter problems such as the lack of quality teachers, school infrastructure, and many others. Now, if we create VR content that can be used time and again, it can hugely impact the quality of learning.
More than that, VR experiences adds immense value to the learning curve of students. This, in totality, will produce phenomenal results in my opinion. The whole idea is to provide quality and immersive content through VR at an affordable price range.
Conclusively, I would also like to point out that video education has already kicked off in the Indian internet space and while video education is better, VR education is much superior.
TG: If we understand correctly your firm is inclined to the education sector, however, you haven’t delved into it much. Therefore, considering your current position how do you differentiate yourself from other VR content companies such as Oculus?
SB: Well, Oculus is a tech-heavy company and their vision is to manufacture quality VR headset. Having said that, we can say VR content is a byproduct of the tech firm.
In fact, Google has also delved into the VR space at this point in time. Essentially, all such big organizations collaborate with content curators and are not curators themselves.
About time Google and Occulus perhaps are going to champion the VR race and then they will require content curators. We can say that Liminal is moving alongside them and can partner when the right time comes.
Moreover, one functionality that definitely sets us apart from others is our mobile-friendly VR platform. Our services can be accessed on any Android or iOS phones via our turnkey mobile app.
TG: In today’s ROI-driven world, why Liminal has ventured into the VR space?
SB: This is something we have been asked umpteen times by brand managers and decision-makers like CEOs, CIOs, and others. What VR does is provide a wholesome and good experience to a user, which otherwise becomes very expensive.
The impact of VR is immense and a lot of companies are deploying this technology for their marketing campaigns.
TG: What is the roadmap for Liminal going forward?
SB: We envision to penetrate further into the education space and add value to it. Secondly, we believe that content quality is always going to be the driving force and VR is certainly an enhancer.
Asides that, we plan to create VR-based therapy modules that can assist people suffering from psychological ailments.