Virtual reality (VR) has become a really, really big
thing, and Google has the numbers to prove it.
The company recently reported it shipped five million units
of its Cardboard virtual-reality platform in two years. That includes devices
that were sold by third-party retailers along with ones given away by Google.
The Google numbers also show that Cardboard has been
installed through the Google Play Store more than 25 million times and users have
watched more than 350,000 hours of YouTube videos through the app. On the
education front, more than 500,000 students have taken VR field trips using the
device, according to a report in VentureBeat.
While
Google has competition for the VR space, Oculus Rift is still several weeks
away from shipping and the HTC Vive is still not available for preorder. And
Apple has only just begun to explore the potential of VR, which puts it way
behind in the market.
