Samsung used virtual reality for the first time to unveil its latest products. The company had prepared 5,000 Gear VR units that enabled all event attendees to get an up-close look at the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 edge. Obviously this is easier said than done and Samsung had to work around several obstacles to achieve this impressive feat.
The biggest obstacle that Samsung faced was figuring out how to keep all of the 5,000 Gear VR units powered throughout the event, aside from figuring out how to broadcast the live presentation simultaneously on each headset. So Samsung ended up developing a customized Gear VR headset for this event as well as special technology to broadcast the event. It first ran multiple tests with the new headset from Korea, the technology was first successfully applied to 100 devices, then 500 and then again with 1,000. As it ran into problems it kept making alterations to make sure that everything went off without a hitch on launch day.
To make sure that the new system functioned properly during the event, Samsung kept an eye on every single device by using NFC that paired each headset to a specific seat number so if the signal failed to work on a specific device it would be easy for the company to fix the problem. This was also the first Samsung event to be live streamed in 360-degrees with more than 30 million viewers from around the world tuning in to watch the company unveil its latest flagship handsets.
