Alibaba, which claims 400 million users across its services, said that GnomeMagic Lab will work with its shopping businesses with a view to integrating VR into the shopping experience while exploring other applications, such as video with Youku Tudou and entertainment via Alibaba Pictures, techcrunch.com reports.
In a press announcement, former Facebook engineer Zhao Haiping, who is on the Alibaba’s GnomeMagic Lab team, said VR could enable customers to shop virtually on New York’s Fifth Avenue from their own home. On a more practical level, Alibaba wants to help merchants use VR to sell on its websites, and it said it has already created VR visuals for hundreds of products, the source cites. For now, the company is setting up a store dedicated to VR hardware to help companies tap into its vast audience.
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