The property industry has reached a crossroad between the metaverse and real areas, according to Ricky Lim, executive director and chief technology officer at i-City.
"We have come to a point where almost everything can be done and transacted through a superapp. However, as great as these data-driven features are in offering the right products and services to human users, one important element is lacking, which is multi-sensorial experience," he said.
Lim said that brands are realising the limitations of mobile applications in optimising the power of data-driven mobile features in driving bottom-line results and, as a result, are exploring immersive retail points as experience centres to provide the multi-sensory experience that a smartphone cannot provide.
He said that, as a result of technological advancements and the shrinking-world aspect, the general consumer base has a plethora of options neatly presented on the platter of numerous internet-based apps in all product categories.
"Consumers' wants have become needs, and needs have further diversified, radically changing and evolving through the passage of time. The consumer of today and tomorrow, more often than not, no longer perceives the value of the item or the service based on the product features and benefits. What is the world doing to keep up? Cue, the experience entre.
"The fundamental focus of this approach is to establish a positive and interpersonal engagement with consumers that last as a memory, of experience, of what it makes them feel, of how they spend their time, and shape their perceptions toward a brand, product, and service," he said.
Lim said an experience centre is meant to leave a memory, so spaces that give the consumer an experience with family with events or pop-up shows that brighten a dull day, while allowing the brand/product/service to surrounding its visitors in full-immersion, without pressuring purchase, are the perfect mix for the urban economy.
5G is a critical enabler of the metaverse
The term "metaverse" was coined 30 years ago and until recently, it has been part science fiction and part speculation.
The word metaverse was coined by American science fiction writer Neal Town Stephenson in his 1992 novel Snow Crash.
"At the time, he was already talking about some of the technologies that could make the metaverse a reality today like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). What he had not imagined was the explosion of big data, ultra-fast networks, and artificial intelligence that we are experiencing today, where everything is being connected, stored, and analysed," Lim said.
Early this year, i-City unveiled a RM10 million digital transformation plan to upgrade its theme park with a metaverse experience, to attract 10 million people by 2023.
It will work with other parties to create an immersive 3D metaverse experience for its City of Digital Lights. The new experience will be introduced during the New Year's Eve countdown in 2023.
Adopting new technologies, such as metaverse technology, has always been in the DNA of i-City.
i-City added LED technology into the theme park's digital landscape in 2009, while it was still in its infancy. As a result, CNN Travel named i-City the 21st brightest and most colourful destination in the world, two points above New York Times Square in the US.
The Fifth Generation (5G) of cellular networks, according to Lim, is a fundamental facilitator of the metaverse, and the roll-out witnessed today is only the beginning of this transformation.
"We are only seeing the basic 5G network right now. 5G technology drastically improves upload and download speeds, while also improving latency, which is the time it takes devices to communicate with wireless networks. The current 4G network delivers around 100 megabits per second. But once 5G rolls out, that number jumps to 10,000 megabits per second, 100xfaster than the current speed," he said.
Lim said that the realisation of the metaverse, among other things, is already driving significant investment in cloud data centres.
According to him, the vast amount of data that the metaverse will require would place a lot of strain on the networks that internet service providers maintain, as well as the capabilities of data centres to process and transmit the information.