A new job opening at a division of the online retail giant Amazon my indicate the firm is looking to immersive technology to enhance its shopping experience.
Amazon has up to now only tentatively dipped its substantial corporate toe in the waters of virtual reality. The online retail giant did fire up a VR hub last year, with the help of Road to VR and later introduced VR support to its open source game engine Lumberjack, but as far as VR being integrated into its core offerings, there’s been nary a whisper.
Now, a new job opening, spotted by Variety, may indicate the company is looking into the opportunities immersive technologies may offer for its online retail presence. The job, which had appeared via LinkedIn has since been removed, was for the firm’s A9 division, ordinarily tasked with product search and advertising. The new “Creative Director, Virtual Reality” would “envision the future of Amazon’s VR solutions and guide our creative and technical teams to produce compelling, world-class experiences,” according to Variety, which reported on the opening before it was pulled – perhaps after gaining unwanted attention from online media.
In addition to its VR retail hub, Amazon also recently made noises about expanding its video entertainment offerings when it confirmed hiring ex Tribeca Film Festival director Genna Terranova to head up a new VR film division at Amazon Studios, possibly to extend its online streaming services. No other details about the move were shared however.
It’s clear Amazon has an eye on covering its bases as immersive technologies makes its way into people’s homes, and as one of the world’s in online media and retail, we’ll follow their progress with great interest.