Between YouTube, Google search, and Gmail, the Mountain View, California-based company created, owns, and operates much of what we’ve come to expect from using the internet. That’s why it’s such a tremendously big deal that Google’s pushing into virtual reality with one of its most important services: YouTube.
The company told attendees of its annual I/O developer conference Thursday that the public could upload 360-degree videos to YouTube starting this summer. Moreover, a VR-ready version of YouTube will become available in app form in the not-so-distant future. Put more clearly: the world’s most popular video platform is moving into virtual reality.
Imagine this: You buy an inexpensive 360-degree video camera, you record heartfelt family moments with it, you share those moments to your family’s private YouTube account. Watching those videos is like being there all over again. And not just in a nostalgic way; with 360-degree video and a VR headset, you are there.
With Google’s “Jump” system, that is all possible. “Jump” is the initiative Google unveiled that provides a turnkey solution for turning 360-degree video into viewable YouTube footage. Think of it like this: it’s an easy way for complex video to be easily shot and distributed, for viewing on VR headsets. It’s a standardization for filming, distributing and viewing 360-degree video.
In the next 12 months, a variety of VR headsets from disparate companies will launch. The “killer app” for the mainstream won’t be a dogfighting space shooter, and it won’t be a puzzle game. It’ll be applications like YouTube and Netflix.