The technology eye tracking o Visual tracking is in luck. at least the Made in Spain. Irisbond, which entered the sector in 2013 at the hands of its founder Eduardo Jáuregui long before the arrival of the metaverses and the second wave of virtual and augmented reality, announces that it is expanding its presence in the epicenter of this technology: the United States . Also that they have received official Apple certification for their Hiru device on the company’s iPads.
It is precisely the training within the iOS system that opens the door to the United States for this technology. “It is a sector that focuses on Windows, being able to offer service with iOS opens many doors for us to a market where Apple has a large share,” explains Jáuregui to Hypertext.
Introduced in 2020 and compatible with all operating systems, Hiru has been the most important success of Isisbond. A system of eye tracking to help people with physical limitations or motor conditions to have a complete digital life. Whether it’s working, studying or entertaining on YouTube or Spotify; simply by analyzing the movement of their eyes as a substitute for the physical mouse and with a peripheral eye-tracking system. It was his third product and the one that has achieved the most success, mainly in Europe.
However, the company of Basque origin and based in San Sebastián has managed to have a presence with its system also in North America and Latin America. It is not the first time that Irisbond has worked with the United States. On the one hand, and through its network of suppliers, the company already operates commercially in the country – its opening of an office in the country responds to a much larger strategy. On the other hand, the Basque startup has been working with MIT on some of the first prototypes and investigations of eye tracking. Likewise, and together with the Azkoyen group, it presented a gaze-controlled coffee machine at the NAMA OneShow in the USA in 2021.
They have the goal of doubling or tripling their turnover for next year thanks to their market opening in the United States. Also to a change in the business model for its conquest on the other side of the Atlantic. If in Spain they offer sales to the public, in the United States they prefer to focus on sales to professionals. “We want to partner with growers who want to install our product,” explains Irisbond’s founder. And this comes for a very specific reason. It is a way of getting to know a completely different market, and understanding the needs of the country. Also to enter the financing systems for medical devices in the United States and jump on the bandwagon of the country’s educational integration systems. Because Irisbond wants to focus on those two sectors, for now: education and health.
In the future, they explain, they will open new doors to the field but always in the sector they know. “In the health business, for example, in the future we want to focus on the prediction of neurodegenerative diseases through the eye tracking“, he points out. Some studies that are being carried out in Spain and that they would like to implement in the United States health system, very open to new research in health. To do this, they first want to gain market share, and then – when they have a viable product– take it spends there.
United States, the gold of eye tracking
On sale from January 2021, the price of the Irisbond product is 1,680 euros. Your focus? Allow anyone to have the ability to use a computer or tablet either by hand or eye movement. However, the focus of the industry eye tracking it goes much further.
The market volume of the sector eye tracking it was valued at more than 600 million dollars in 2021. It is expected that by 2022 it will increase by 22%. Its most fertile land? USA. Your market focus? The rise of virtual and augmented reality, the metaverse and the growing need for contactless biometric control systems in the technology industry. More focused on commerce, telemedicine or security and surveillance than to the inclusion of Irisbond, the United States continues to set the trend in these competitions.
In fact, defense and penitentiary security is the business that has brought together the most innovations. Much faster than reading irises or fingerprints, the eye tracking It has become a popular tool in the industry. It is, however, that of telemedicine or health applications the one that grows the fastest in income. In 2021, it reached 25% of the market share.
One that, despite the volume handled by the business, still has few competitors. A point in favor of an Irisbond that lands in the country with more technology startups in the business, but that still leaves room for more in the distribution of the business. Even more so with the end of VR winter courtesy of Mark Zuckerberg.
It was with the rise of the Oculus, and its subsequent sale to Facebook in 2o14, when countless technological companies were born to ride the wave of virtual reality of that moment. As soon as they rose encouraged by some funds willing to leave the millions in the sector, they ended up going down. The winter of virtual reality was coming, which was beginning to give its first buds of spring again thanks to Zuckerberg. It was the era of the metaverse or second life of virtual reality and technologies that are part of its ecosystem. The eye tracking It is one of the most attention paid. According to the Grand View Research report60% of the turnover of the sector is concentrated in the hardware of eye tracking of rapid capture and, specifically in the United States, with 48% of the total business. Followed by Germany, Japan and China.
Irisbond’s big competitors
However, the Basque Irisbond enters to compete in a very small sector controlled by some companies. Tobii, focused on image management in the cloud, is one of the most popular. It is the one that has brought the most research solutions to the market. It also has the approval of Microsoft, with whom they have been working since 2017, and Nvidia for the joint work of image processing.
However, they are not alone. SR Research, iMotions, Mirador Research or EyeTeach also have part of the leadership in the business that the Spanish Irisbond wants to conquer.