When Nokia announced a cutting-edge virtual reality camera technology called OZO last July, observers branded it as the company's comeback product. It is geared towards professional content creators and filmmakers, as HNGN previously reported. The latest word from the Finnish company revealed why this is the case - OZO will cost an eye-watering $60,000, effectively ruling out the amateur filmmaker and the hobbyists from its target markets.
The virtual reality camera's pricing was revealed Monday in an event at Los Angeles. During the announcement, Nokia emphasized that the technology is an opportunity for the company to establish a foothold in an emerging industry.
Ramzi Haidamus, president of Nokia, is credited for the fast-tracked development of the OZO technology. Its early prototype immediately caught his attention and the company began focusing on the technology.
"It was a very early prototype; a lab rat. But the video 3-D accuracy, and the audio accuracy were phenomenal, even at that stage," Haidamus told The Verge. "And I knew we had a winner, because if you were to think of the market that's being disrupted, introducing a brand new medium, we were catching it at the right time."
Haidamus' decision to focus on OZO proved prophetic as virtual reality technology began picking up steam recently. Big tech companies such as Google, Facebook, Sony and Samsung are now developing their respective VR products. Nokia is poised to claim a leadership position in the industry as OZO is readying for shipments in the first quarter of 2016.
The most important innovation that Nokia offers filmmakers with OZO involves the ability for live monitoring. Current technologies creating VR content need an elaborate setup and process that takes several images to be stitched together before seeing the actual VR output. OZO sidesteps this through the "dynamic rendering" technology that allows filmmakers to use VR goggles and view in real time what is being captured by OZO lenses, according to The Verge.
For buyers, Nokia will require a $5,000 down payment before shipping the device. Full specifications are available on this page.
