INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Amazon Starting A Virtual Reality Platform

By Nick Younker
Published on: 04:36 PST, Mar 8, 2016

Amazon has conquered many online markets, but virtual reality is just now making its way on to the streaming retail giant’s website. It is to be assumed at this point that the VR offerings are going to be internet based and will work in conjunction with Smart TV and PC apps.

Although the company has made no official announcement of the new market venture they will be offering to their customers, Upload VR picked up on the news in a rather unorthodox way. Apparently, there is a job listing on Glass Door for a developer to lead Amazon’s virtual reality division.

Amazon listed the job with may professional requirements, which meant that the person they are looking for needs to have some serious credentials to join their team in the virtual reality division.

“Amazon Video is seeking a talented Senior Software Development Manager to lead our Virtual Reality team. This team is responsible for building the Virtual Reality experience within Amazon Video,” the listing states in its opening paragraph.

“Entertainment is evolving rapidly,” the listing continued. “The future will not be limited to passive 2D experiences. The Virtual Reality team will explore and create the platform and interface for immersive storytelling. This will include an ingestion and playback platform for Virtual Reality experiences.”

Amazon may also be competing on a higher plane of the market than that of Netflix and Hulu, giving their customers an experience similar to that of YouTube and Transport. That’s because it will feature a 360-degree video platform and will go beyond just watching it on your flat screen TV.

As reported by Fortune, Amazon will also be featuring this new technology on their Amazon Video platform, and the offering will be in some way related to movies and TV. There has been no mention yet if Amazon is looking for this to be inclusive in their gaming platform, which for many is the ultimate virtual reality experience. The interactive technology was originally meant for gaming due to the nature of how users could best enjoy it.

The next obvious step for Amazon would be to accompany the virtual reality technology with its own line of hardware to go with it. Google has the market ready for its line of VR hardware, and many gaming technology companies have put a stranglehold on the market for such devices.

As far as the virtual reality technology goes, Amazon has already taken steps to secure its place in the market by obtaining patents on various designs for the virtual reality devices that will presumably be used on their emerging platform.

One thing for sure is that Amazon is looking to be the one-stop shop for internet retail and digital sales. They started off in the book sector, offering new and used books to customers in the U.S. They quickly evolved into a retail giant, much in the same way that Wal-Mart currently is with their brick-and-mortar stores across the U.S.

But Amazon got away with it quickly by saving money on physical investments. Instead, they optioned for cheaper ways to streamline the process for consumers by ordering online and having the products shipped directly to their door.

With every step they take online, Amazon will be sure to capitalize on virtual reality consumers in the near future and bring the immersive technology directly into a customer’s living room via the internet. There has been no word yet on when the VR platform will be available to the public.

[Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images]

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