The VR market has reached an all-time-high and the expectations of the users have soared to new levels.The past couple of years were the game changers in the VR and AR market. This market is expected to reach over $200 billion by 2021. The AR and VR gadget manufacturers are minting money primarily from the APAC market, as the countries like India, Japan and China are embracing the cutting-edge technologies and making them an important part of their lives.
Looking at the AR and VR market statistics, the year 2018 seems pretty hopeful. The competition has reached the sky-high levels, but some of the VR influencers are standing tall, offering value for money products to enrich the overall experience.
Here are the top 12 VR influencers that are ruling the market right now.
Keith Curtin
Keith Curtin is a familiar name in the AR, VR and MR arena. He is the founder of See Digital and a successful entrepreneur. He has also topped the Top 100 AR influencer list by Onayltica. Keith also contributes to the technology portal The Next Web and Venture Beat. He is presently serving as the East Coast VP Sales of Zappar, an AR platform. Keith has served many big brands including Coca Cola, Disney, Pepsico, Nickelodeon, Kellogg’s, Nestle and many more. He is pretty active on Twitter and shares valuable AR, VR and MR thoughts and information on the platform with over 39k followers (as of 21st Feb, 2018).
Kent Bye
The Voices of VR Podcast host Kent Bye has covered a long journey in the VR world. He offers podcasts three or five times a week for the techies and game developers to bring VR to its glorious position again. Kent has conducted over 750 VR interviews and over 500 of them are published till the date. Kent is from Portland. He is presently engaged in his upcoming book “The Ultimate Potential of VR” for the people who curiously want to know what else VR innovations can do. Kent manages his twitter handle @kentbye and has over 16k followers (as of 21st Feb, 2018). Kent has been a part of hundreds of VR gatherings across the world and he is definitely one of the VR influencers to keep an eye on this year.
Sanem Avcil
It’s time to realize the woman power in VR and AR market. Sanem Avcil is presently one of the top VR and AR influencers in the world and an ICO advisor. Some of her educational qualifications like MIT Entrepreneurship, MIT Innovation, Harvard CS50 and Stanford Computer Science add stars and weight to her portfolio. She also has a penchant for social media marketing and cryptocurrency. She is the CEO of Politehelp and Coolo Games. Well, if you are wondering if she has some other skills then dig into her LinkedIn profile. Her twitter account @Sanemavcil has over 135k followers (as of 21st Feb, 2018).
Palmer Luckey
This guy definitely deserves a rank on this list. Palmer Luckey is on twitter, he is in the Forbes America’s richest under 40 entrepreneur list 2016 and he is among the top 10 VR influencers in the world right now. He runs Oculus VR and ModRetro. The Californian entrepreneur has a Net Worth of around $750 million. He is definitely one of the inspiring dropouts in the world who have made the grade in their profession, chased their dreams and set examples for the world. When he is not indulged in the technology stuff, he writes. He has 59k followers on Twitter (as of 21st Feb, 2018).
Tamara McCleary
The Founder and CEO of Thulium, Tamara McCleary is a familiar name in the AR, VR, IoT and Big Data industries. On Onalytica’s list, she is among the top AR, VR, social media, IoT and Big Data influencers. With her experience and skills, she has impressed some globally popular clients like Dell, IBM, Huawei, SAP, Verizon and to name a few. She is the creator of RELATIONSHIFT, which offers strategies for brand awareness and digital space influence. Tamara has over 273k Twitter followers (as of 21st Feb, 2018) and she is quite active there.
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Ryan Bell
Some stories come alive in digital format and Ryan Bell does it pretty well. The NASA JPL guy from California mainly covers the stories related to VR, app content creation, community, and philanthropy. He is also an interactive at The Emmys. He also founded the popular digital storytelling conference, Summit.Live. He basically bridges the gap between the brands and the influencers, celebs, and streamers. Ryan Bell has 51k followers on Twitter (as of 21st Feb, 2018).
Hugo Barra
The computer scientist turned entrepreneur from Brazil was in news last year due to joining the biggest social media platform Facebook as the VR Team Leader. The guy showed his worth at Xiaomi and took the brand’s VR experience to new heights. He is presently leading the Oculus team and his efforts are quite visible and commendable. Hugo Barra has also served Google and the big names associated with his portfolio makes him secure a position on this top global VR influencers list.
Tipatat
Tipatat Chennavasin is a passionate creator and investor of VR/AR. He also acquires an extensive experience in the field of 360 video. He is the founder and CEO of Big Head Mode, Inc and the founding member of VRVCA. A selection of reputed VR ventures takes his advice and his skills say it all.
John Westra
John Westra works at VUTURUS as Virtual Innovation Officer. He presently deals with VR and AR solutions. He is a techie having expertise in marketing, sales, e-marketing, communication, IT, project management and many other fields apart from VR and AR. John’s Twitter account has over 2k followers (as of 21st Feb, 2018).
Karissa Bell
Karissa Bell, the journo from Mashable covers the tech stories and she is one of the top VR influencers that are driving the market right now. Her major contributions are in the field of VR, Android and iOS devices and the latest trends in these industries.
Rob Crasco
With over 16K followers on Twitter (as of 21st Feb, 2018), Rob Crasco is a true VR influencer that you must follow to remain abreast of latest happenings in the Virtual Reality/Mixed Reality sector. With over 10+ years of working in the field of virtual worlds, Rob is also a contributing writer at VRScout. VR is his passion and he has got extensive technical and marketing knowledge for this emerging technology.
Rick King
Rick King is again a true VR evangelist that you should follow right away! Most of his tweets are related to technology, games and everything in VR. From being a technology consultant and graphic designer to a musician and VR developer, Rick has a fan base of over 225K on Twitter (as of 21st Feb, 2018) and he never disappoints them!
Virtual Reality is a sensation for a decade now and every year we are left agape with the new trends in this industry. This world is moving at an unbelievable pace and constantly adding to the virtual and realistic experiences. You need to keep up with the above VR influencers to stay updated about the latest trends and revolutions that are lined up for 2018 in this arena.