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IBM VIRTUAL COLLABORATION

Enterprise 3-D virtual world applications have proliferated during the past several years. What began as fun and games is becoming a serious business with a lot of upside. A host of new, innovative 3-D virtual world applications have been introduced to the marketplace targeting the enterprise. Some of these applications have been created by established technology companies, such as IBM, Sun Microsystems and Nortel, while others are being developed by emerging players, such as Forterra Systems, ProtonMedia, Qwaq and Unisfair. This report profiles 14 key players and provides market forecasts for enterprise deployments of virtual world applications over the next decade. Read more at GigaOM Pro »

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/torley/2882719515/sizes/o/

In recent years, virtual worlds (also known as massively multiplayer online games, or MMOs) have shown tremendous growth in terms of user numbers and revenue. However, the market for them is currently in tremendous flux, with the most well-known sub-genre — the subscriber-based fantasy role playing games (MMORPGs) — suffering a growth plateau, due to the dominating success of World of Warcraft. At the same time, user activity in “freemium” virtual worlds continues to explode, most especially in the tween/adolescent market, which is likely to reach a market saturation point soon, though monetization prospects for all but the established players remain uncertain. The explosion of social networks, which share numerous traits with virtual worlds, have created a new potential audience for this genre, while the mass adoption of web plug-ins and smartphones like the iPhone have opened up new markets for the genre.

In this transitional period, many of the best investment and growth opportunities to watch are not the worlds themselves, but the solution providers offering developers the means to better monetize their existing MMOs. Opportunities also exist in niche MMOs that appeal to consumers seeking entertainment outside the established fantasy and kids social MMO space. However, new players that would enter this already crowded market must foster a community of users by rewarding user-created content and continued engagement, while also being architected with multiple revenue streams and play platforms. Read more at GigaOM Pro »

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Earlier this week, we wrote about the tech side of open video efforts, which are poised to push forward the possibilities for use of video by making it native to web browsers. Here’s a demo we got from Mike Beltzner, director of Firefox, that shows one […] Read more »

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Despite all of the hype about Second Life, followed by the Second Life bashing, followed by some more hype, and now the latest “Second Life is dead” pronouncements, the 3-D virtual world owned by Linden Lab is still breathing. More importantly, I feel strongly — as do many others — that Second Life is an important, and often overlooked, aspect of social media marketing. Read more »

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They say numbers don’t lie, and in recent months the number of people populating virtual world Second Life has started to rise again. Mark Kingdon, CEO of parent company Linden Lab, has been touting the return to steady user growth; to back up his claims, he […] Read more »

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A week after Linden Lab said it was raising the cost of buying and maintaining much of the virtual land in Second Life, leading to open revolt among many users, the company has significantly revised its pricing policies. Read more »

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The denizens of Linden Lab’s virtual world Second Life are a passionate lot, so when the San Francisco company recently announced a steep purchase and maintenance fee increase on popular regions of their virtual land, sign-waving avatars were soon gathered outside Linden’s SL office, in protest. […] Read more »

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Second Life, the user-created world backed by Linden Lab, has found itself in an increasingly competitive market lately; Google’s Lively is just the latest entrant into the virtual world space. So I sat down with Linden’s recently appointed CEO, Mark Kingdon, to find out how he plans to turn things around. Read more »

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*When did you know you should quit our job and go full time with your startup?* This is a question founders get asked again and again — by the curious, by company “lifers” and “fulltimers,” and especially by those who have their own little start up […] Read more »

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