In recent years, the extended reality (XR) industry has witnessed remarkable growth, revolutionizing various sectors. The potential of XR to reshape industries and create new business opportunities has captured the attention of entrepreneurs and investors alike, leading to the emergence of numerous early stage businesses venturing into this exciting field. Despite the promising prospects, the XR industry remains in a dynamic and evolving state, presenting both opportunities and challenges for early stage businesses seeking to establish themselves within this competitive landscape. This master thesis aims to explore the experiences of early stage businesses within the extended reality (XR) industry, with the goal of understanding the opportunities and challenges they encounter in the current period of study, spring 2023. The study takes a qualitative research approach, employing observations of early stage XR businesses and semi-structured interviews with professionals within the industry and academia of XR. The analysis is based on thematic analysis applying Disruptive Innovation theory and Adoption Curve Theory combined with Gartner’s Hype Cycle. Together with existing literature the analysis creates a picture of the current opportunities and challenges that exists in the XR field, visualized in a prototype of a 3D mind map. These range from areas such as recruitment, financing and technology development to user adoption, ethics and inclusion. They reflect what businesses are facing in early stages of a relatively new industry as well as some of the political, economical and sociocultural factors. Some of the opportunities are high potential to transform and disrupt industries and markets, creating new ways of interacting in virtual worlds as well as new revenue streams. Some of the challenges are low adoption, funding issues and competition with leading players. Ultimately, the research provides valuable insights of the XR industry which could be used when making strategic decisions for professionals and stakeholders.

This Ericsson project investigates avatar interactions in Augmented Reality (AR) and allows users to interact with a full-sized 3D avatar that is aware of the user’s local environment. This project aimed to evaluate the system's usability and identify potential use cases where users might want to interact with an avatar. The tests were conducted with the main objectives to find out issues in usability and how factors affect the user experience when interacting with an avatar. The prototype for this was adapted for NReal glasses and the testing method used combined quantitative and qualitative approaches. 21 Ericsson employees tested the application and used augmented reality glasses to interact with the avatar. The participants were not guided and instead asked to interact intuitively with the avatar – some even tried to shake hands or talk to the avatar. The data was collected by transcribing notes from each session, noting observations and the responses to the questionnaire. The results from this usability study helped to understand usability issues such as restrictive avatar movements and lack of facial expressions and distinct features when interacting with the avatar. It also highlighted the problems with the current chosen device which has a restrictive Field of View that obstructed the experience for over 60% of the participants. The future scope of this project would focus on making the user experience more realistic by adding expressions, audio, etc., and allowing users to imagine the potential of interacting through a holographic communication application. Overall, the study provides user insights and analysis that could help to develop this application further and make it more engaging, thus bringing the possibility of holographic communication and avatar interaction closer to reality. / Detta Ericsson-projekt undersöker avatarinteraktioner i Augmented Reality (AR) och låter användare interagera med en 3Davatar i full storlek som är medveten om användarens lokala miljö. Detta projekt syftade till att utvärdera systemets användbarhet och identifiera potentiella användningsfall där användare kanske vill interagera med en avatar. Testerna genomfördes med huvudmålen att ta reda på problem med användbarhet och hur faktorer påverkar användarupplevelsen när man interagerar med en avatar. Prototypen för detta var anpassad för NReal-glasögon och testmetoden använde kombinerade kvantitativa och kvalitativa tillvägagångssätt. 21 Ericsson-anställda testade applikationen och använde augmented reality-glasögon för att interagera med avataren. Deltagarna vägleddes inte utan ombads istället att interagera intuitivt med avataren – några försökte till och med skaka hand eller prata med avataren. Data samlades in genom att transkribera anteckningar från varje session, notera observationer och svaren på frågeformuläret. Resultaten från denna användbarhetsstudie hjälpte till att förstå användbarhetsproblem som restriktiva avatarrörelser och avsaknad av ansiktsuttryck och distinkta egenskaper när man interagerar med avatarn. Den belyste också problemen med den nuvarande valda enheten som har ett begränsat synfält som hindrade upplevelsen för över 60 % av deltagarna. Den framtida omfattningen av detta projekt skulle fokusera på att göra användarupplevelsen mer realistisk genom att lägga till uttryck, ljud etc., och tillåta användare att föreställa sig potentialen i att interagera genom en holografisk kommunikationsapplikation. Sammantaget ger studien användarinsikter och analyser som kan hjälpa till att utveckla denna applikation ytterligare och göra den mer engagerande, och på så sätt föra möjligheten till holografisk kommunikation och avatarinteraktion närmare verkligheten.

<p>Immersive reality technology, such as augmented and virtual reality, has recently become quite prevalent due to innovation in hardware and software, leading to cheaper devices such as Head-mounted displays. There is significant evidence of an improved rate of skill acquisition with immersive reality training. However, the knowledge required to develop content for such immersive media is still relatively high. Subject experts often work together with programmers to create such content. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Our research goal in this thesis can be broadly classified into four distinct but mutually dependent categories. First, we explored the problem of immersive content creation with ProcessAR, an AR-based system to develop 2D/3D content that captures subject matter experts (SMEs) environment-object interactions in situ. The design space for ProcessAR was identified from formative interviews with AR programming experts and SMEs, alongside a comparative design study with SMEs and novice users. To enable smooth workflows, ProcessAR locates and identifies different tools/objects through computer vision within the workspace when the author looks at them. We explored additional features, such as embedding 2D videos with detected objects and user-adaptive triggers. A final user evaluation comparing ProcessAR and a baseline AR authoring environment showed that, according to our qualitative questionnaire, users preferred ProcessAR.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Second, we explored a unified authoring and editing environment, EditAR, that can create content for multiple media, such as AR, VR, and video instructions, based on a single demonstration. EditAR captures the user's interaction within an environment and creates a digital twin, enabling users without programming backgrounds to develop content. We conducted formative interviews with the subject and media experts to design the system. The prototype was developed and reviewed by experts. We also performed a user study comparing traditional video creation with 2D video creation from 3D recordings via a 3D editor, which uses freehand interaction for in-headset editing. Users took five times less time to record instructions and preferred EditAR, giving significantly higher usability scores.</p> <p><br></p> <p>We then explore AnnotateXR, an extended reality (XR) workflow to collect various high fidelity data and auto-annotate it in a single demonstration. AnnotateXR allows users to align virtual models over physical objects, tracked with 6DoF sensors. AnnotateXR utilizes a hand tracking capable XR HMD coupled with 6DoF information and collision detection to enable algorithmic segmentation of different actions in videos through its digital twin. The virtual-physical mapping provides a tight bounding volume to generate semantic segmentation masks for the captured image data. Alongside supporting object and action segmentation, we also support other dimensions of annotation required by modern CV, such as Human-Object, Object-Object, and rich 3D recordings, all with a single demonstration. Our user study shows AnnotateXR produced over 112,000 annotated data points in 67 minutes while maintaining the same performance quality as manual annotations.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Lastly, We conducted two elicitation studies empirically evaluated to determine design guidance for cross-modal devices capable of supporting an immersive interface in VR, allowing for simultaneous interaction with direct hand interaction while allowing for keyboard and mouse input. Recent advances in hand tracking have allowed users to interact with and experience interactions closer and similar to interactions in the physical world. However, these added benefits of natural interaction come at the cost of precision and accuracy offered by legacy input media such as a keyboard/mouse. The results and the guidelines from the two studies were used to develop a prototype called the Immersive Keyboard, which was evaluated against only traditional interface of only the keyboard and mouse. </p> <p><br></p> <p>In this thesis, we have explored a novel extended reality authoring environment that enables users without programming to author asynchronous immersive content in-situ, especially for spatial instructions.</p>

Fintech and Web 3.0 represent two important constructs for an emerging web experience that is decentralized, social, and immersive. When integrating fintech solutions into digital projects, understanding market performance and impact from shocks can inform decisions around integrations as businesses and creators move towards Web 3.0 and emerging use cases that leverage NFTs, smart contracts, extended reality, and blockchain to deliver value. Additionally, fintech and Web 3.0 create new challenges for established firms where peer-to-peer value exchanges happen in real-time without the need for intermediaries and thus provide greater access to resources for disruptors, small enterprises, and creators. This proposal outlines a mixed methods research study that examines fintech performance and how it has responded to market shocks to answer the research question: What is the level of financial performance for fintech? The study is followed by an examination of how technology can power an immersive, decentralized digital experience that transcends borders and device platforms to answer the research question: What is the relationship between fintech and Web 3.0? The ability of fintech to increase banking inclusion and access to capital would be valuable as a facilitator of transactions between brands and peers (P2P) in a Web 3.0 ecosystem. Hence, understanding fintech performance and its relationship to a decentralized Web 3.0 will inform business leaders, creators, and researchers in identifying new use cases that combine both constructs building a more inclusive global value exchange ecosystem. While there is a growing body of knowledge on fintech, much less has been written about Web 3.0 and even less literature exists on the relationship between the two constructs. / Business Administration/Management Information Systems

The emergence of 6G and beyond networks is set to enable a range of novel services such as personalized highly immersive experiences, holographic teleportation, and human-like intelligent robotic applications. Such applications require a set of stringent sensing, communication, control, and intelligence requirements that mandate a leap in the design, analysis, and optimization of today's wireless networks. First, from a wireless communication standpoint, future 6G applications necessitate extreme requirements in terms of bidirectional data rates, near-zero latency, synchronization, and jitter. Concurrently, such services also need a sensing functionality to track, localize, and sense their environment. Owing to its abundant bandwidth, one may naturally resort to terahertz (THz) frequency bands (0.1 − 10 THz) so as to provide significant wireless capacity gains and enable high-resolution environment sensing. Nonetheless, operating a wireless system at the THz band is constrained by a very uncertain channel which brings forth novel challenges. In essence, these channel limitations lead to unreliable intermittent links ergo the short communication range and the high susceptibility to blockage and molecular absorption. Second, given that emerging wireless services are "intelligence-centric", today's communication links must be transformed from a mere bit-pipe into a brain-like reasoning system. Towards this end, one can exploit the concept of semantic communications, a revolutionary paradigm that promises to transform radio nodes into intelligent agents that can extract the underlying meaning (semantics) or significance in a data stream. However, to date, there has been a lack in holistic, fundamental, and scalable frameworks for building next-generation semantic communication networks based on rigorous and well-defined technical foundations. Henceforth, to panoramically develop the fully-fledged theoretical foundations of future 6G applications and guarantee affluent corresponding experiences, this dissertation thoroughly investigates two thrusts. The first thrust focuses on developing the analytical foundations of THz systems with a focus on network design, performance analysis, and system optimization. First, a novel and holistic vision that articulates the unique role of THz in 6G systems is proposed. This vision exposes the solutions and milestones necessary to unleash THz's true potential in next-generation wireless systems. Then, given that extended reality (XR) will be a staple application of 6G systems, a novel risk and tail-based performance analysis is proposed to evaluate the instantaneous performance of THz bands for specific ultimate virtual reality (VR) services. Here, the results showcase that abundant bandwidth and the molecular absorption effect have only a secondary effect on the reliability compared to the availability of line-of-sight. More importantly, the results highlight that average metrics overlook extreme events and tend to provide false positive performance guarantees. To address the identified challenges of THz systems, a risk-oriented learning-based design that exploits reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) is proposed so as to optimize the instantaneous reliability. Furthermore, the analytical results are extended to investigate the uplink freshness of augmented reality (AR) services. Here, a novel ruin-based performance is conducted that scrutinizes the peak age of information (PAoI) during extreme events. Next, a novel joint sensing, communication, and artificial intelligence (AI) framework is developed to turn every THz communication link failure into a sensing opportunity, with application to digital world experiences with XR. This framework enables the use of the same waveform, spectrum, and hardware for both sensing and communication functionalities. Furthermore, this sensing input is intelligently processed via a novel joint imputation and forecasting system that is designed via non-autoregressive and transformed-based generative AI tools. This joint system enables fine-graining the sensing input to smaller time slots, predicting missing values, and fore- casting sensing and environmental information about future XR user behavior. Then, a novel joint quality of personal experience (QoPE)-centric and sensing-driven optimization is formulated and solved via deep hysteretic multi-agent reinforcement learning tools. Essentially, this dissertation establishes a solid foundation for the future deployment of THz frequencies in next-generation wireless networks through the proposal of a comprehensive set of principles that draw on the theories of tail and risk, joint sensing and communication designs, and novel AI frameworks. By adopting a multi-faceted approach, this work contributes significantly to the understanding and practical implementation of THz technology, paving the way for its integration into a wide range of applications that demand high reliability, resilience, and an immersive user experience. In the second thrust of this dissertation, the very first theoretical foundations of semantic communication and AI-native wireless networks are developed. In particular, a rigorous and holistic vision of an end-to-end semantic communication network that is founded on novel concepts from AI, causal reasoning, transfer learning, and minimum description length theory is proposed. Within this framework, the dissertation demonstrates that moving from data-driven intelligence towards reasoning-driven intelligence requires identifying association (statistical) and causal logic. Additionally, to evaluate the performance of semantic communication networks, novel key performance indicators metrics that include new "reasoning capacity" measures that could go beyond Shannon's bound to capture the imminent convergence of computing and communication resources. Then, a novel contrastive learning framework is proposed so as to disentangle learnable and memoizable patterns in source data and make the data "semantic-ready". Through the development of a rigorous end-to-end semantic communication network founded on novel concepts from communication theory and AI, along with the proposal of novel performance metrics, this dissertation lays a solid foundation for the advancement of reasoning-driven intelligence in the field of wireless communication and paves the way for a wide range of future applications. Ultimately, the various analytical foundations presented in this dissertation will provide key guidelines that guarantee seamless experiences in future 6G applications, enable a successful deployment of THz wireless systems as a versatile band for integrated communication and sensing, and build future AI-native semantic communication networks. / Doctor of Philosophy / To date, the evolution of wireless networks has been driven by a chase for data rates, i.e., higher download or upload speeds. Nonetheless, future 6G applications (the generation succeeding today's fifth generation 5G), such as the metaverse, extended reality (encompassing augmented, mixed, and virtual reality), and fully autonomous robots and vehicles, necessitate a major leap in the design and functionality of a wireless network. Firstly, wireless networks must be able to perform functionalities that go beyond communications, encompassing control, sensing, and localization. Such functionalities enable a wide range of tasks such as remotely controlling a device, or tracking a mobile equipment with high precision. Secondly, wireless networks must be able to deliver experiences (e.g. provide the user a sense of immersion in a virtual world), in contrast to a mere service. To do so, extreme requirements in terms of data rate, latency, reliability, and sensing resolution must be met. Thirdly, intelligence must be native to wireless networks, which means that they must possess cognitive and reasoning abilities that enable them to think, act, and communicate like human beings. In this dissertation, the three aforementioned key enablers of future 6G experiences are examined. Essentially, one of the focuses of this dissertation is the design, analysis, and optimization of wireless networks operating at the so-called terahertz (THz) frequency band. The THz band is a quasi-optical (close to the visible light spectrum) frequency band that can enable wireless networks to potentially provide the extreme speeds needed (in terms of communications) and the high-resolution sensing. However, such frequency bands tend to be very susceptible to obstacles, humidity, and many other weather conditions. Therefore, this dissertation investigates the potential of such bands in meeting the demands of future 6G applications. Furthermore, novel solutions, enablers, and optimization frameworks are investigated to facilitate the successful deployment of this frequency band. To provide wireless networks with their reasoning ability, this dissertation comprehensively investigates the concept of semantic communications. In contrast to today's traditional communication frameworks that convert our data to binary bits (ones and zeros), semantic communication's goal is to enable networks to communicate meaning (semantics). To successfully engineer and deploy such networks, this dissertation proposes a novel suite of communication theoretic tools and key performance indicators. Subsequently, this dissertation proposes and analyzes a set of novel artificial intelligence (AI) tools that enable wireless networks to be equipped with the aforementioned cognitive and reasoning abilities. The outcomes of this dissertation have the potential to transform the way we interact with technology by catalyzing the deployment of holographic societies, revolutionizing the healthcare via remote augmented surgery, and facilitating the deployment of autonomous vehicles for a safer and more efficient transportation system. Additionally, the advancements in wireless networks and artificial intelligence proposed in this dissertation could also have a significant impact on various other industries, such as manufacturing, education, and defense, by enabling more efficient and intelligent systems. Ultimately, the societal impact of this research is far-reaching and could contribute to creating a more connected and advanced world.

Extended reality (XR) technology is positioned to become more ubiquitous in life and the workplace in the coming decades, but the problem of how to best perform precision text-entry in XR remains unsolved. Physical QWERTY keyboards are the current standard for these kind of tasks, but if they are recreated virtually, the feedback information from sense of touch is lost. We designed and ran study with 24 participants to explore the effects of using auditory feedback to communicate this missing information that typists normally get from touching a physical keyboard. The study encompassed four VR mid-air keyboards with increasing levels of auditory information, along with a fifth physical keyboard for reference. We evaluated the auditory augmentations in terms of performance, usability, and workload, while additionally assessing the ability of our technique to communicate the touch-feedback information. Results showed that providing clicking feedback on key-press and key-release improves typing compared to not providing auditory feedback, which is consistent with literature on the topic. However, we also found that using audio to substitute the information contained in physical-touch feedback, in place of actual physical-touch feedback, yielded no statistically significant difference in performance. The information can still be useful, but potentially would take a lot of time to develop the muscle memory reflexes that typists already have when using physical keyboards to type. Nonetheless, we recommend others consider incorporating auditory feedback of key-touch into their mid-air keyboards, since it received the highest levels of user preference among keyboards tested. / Master of Science / Extended reality (XR) refers to technology that allows users to either immerse themselves in virtual worlds or incorporate virtual objects into the real world. XR is positioned to become more ubiquitous in life and the workplace in the coming decades, but the problem of how to best perform precision text-entry in XR remains unsolved. Physical QWERTY keyboards are the current standard for these kind of tasks, but if they are recreated virtually, the information inherent to sense of touch is lost. We designed and ran study with 24 participants to explore the effects of using auditory feedback to communicate this missing information that typists normally get from touching a physical keyboard. The study encompassed four virtual reality (VR) mid-air keyboards with increasing levels of auditory information, along with a fifth physical keyboard for reference. We evaluated the auditory augmentations in terms of performance, usability, and workload, while additionally assessing the ability of our technique to communicate the touch-feedback information. Results showed that providing clicking feedback on key-press and key-release improves typing compared to not providing auditory feedback, which is consistent with literature on the topic. However, we also found that using audio to substitute the information contained in physical-touch feedback, in place of actual physical-touch feedback, yielded no statistically significant difference in performance. The information can still be useful, but potentially would take a lot of time to develop the muscle memory reflexes that typists already have when using physical keyboards to type. Nonetheless, we recommend others consider incorporating auditory feedback of key-touch into their mid-air keyboards, since it received the highest levels of user preference among keyboards tested.

Integrating state-of-the-art sensory and display technologies with 3D computer graphics, extended reality (XR) affords capabilities to create enhanced human experiences by merging virtual elements with the real world. To better understand how Sound and Music Computing (SMC) can benefit from the capabilities of XR, this thesis presents novel research on the de- sign of musical experiences in extended reality (MusE-XR). Integrating XR with research on computer assisted musical instrument tutoring (CAMIT) as well as New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), I explore the MusE-XR design space to contribute to a better understanding of the capabilities of XR for SMC. The first area of focus in this thesis is the application of XR technologies to CAMIT enabling extended reality enhanced musical instrument learning (XREMIL). A common approach in CAMIT is the automatic assessment of musical performance. Generally, these systems focus on the aural quality of the performance, but emerging XR related sensory technologies afford the development of systems to assess playing technique. Employing these technologies, the first contribution in this thesis is a CAMIT system for the automatic assessment of pianist hand posture using depth data. Hand posture assessment is performed through an applied computer vision (CV) and machine learning (ML) pipeline to classify a pianist’s hands captured by a depth camera into one of three posture classes. Assessment results from the system are intended to be integrated into a CAMIT interface to deliver feedback to students regarding their hand posture. One method to present the feedback is through real-time visual feedback (RTVF) displayed on a standard 2D computer display, but this method is limited by a need for the student to constantly shift focus between the instrument and the display. XR affords new methods to potentially address this limitation through capabilities to directly augment a musical instrument with RTVF by overlaying 3D virtual objects on the instrument. Due to limited research evaluating effectiveness of this approach, it is unclear how the added cognitive demands of RTVF in virtual environments (VEs) affect the learning process. To fill this gap, the second major contribution of this thesis is the first known user study evaluating the effectiveness of XREMIL. Results of the study show that an XR environment with RTVF improves participant performance during training, but may lead to decreased improvement after the training. On the other hand,interviews with participants indicate that the XR environment increased their confidence leading them to feel more engaged during training. In addition to enhancing CAMIT, the second area of focus in this thesis is the application of XR to NIME enabling virtual environments for musical expression (VEME). Development of VEME requires a workflow that integrates XR development tools with existing sound design tools. This presents numerous technical challenges, especially to novice XR developers. To simplify this process and facilitate VEME development, the third major contribution of this thesis is an open source toolkit, called OSC-XR. OSC-XR makes VEME development more accessible by providing developers with readily available Open Sound Control (OSC) virtual controllers. I present three new VEMEs, developed with OSC-XR, to identify affordances and guidelines for VEME design. The insights gained through these studies exploring the application of XR to musical learning and performance, lead to new affordances and guidelines for the design of effective and engaging MusE-XR. / Graduate

The gaming industry is changing, and new games and gaming experiences are being developed. From board games to video games, to the latest AR and VR games. Right now, developers are trying to develop experiences that combine the real and the virtual into one wholesome and believable mix. This gives new opportunities to implement technology in classical artifacts. In the context of board games there are several tangible pieces, and the dice is the chosen main character for this study. Placed in the middle, between board games and digital games, AR games comes now. Previous research of board games and digital technology gives interesting information on the activity and provides a foundation for new design. The dice is world famous, so this study aims to find out how this piece can evolve with the help of technology. By working with concept driven design, in relation with an AR game studio, the AR Dice and the AR Game DiceFold was invented. A qualitative method was used in which experts of the industry got together to discuss the new experiences of AR games and the functionality of the AR Dice which might become a new part of the gaming world in the near future. The findings of this study lead to three promising discoveries. A new gaming component, new AR game and further answers regarding research in the scopes of AR games. / Spelindustrin förändras och nya former av spel och upplevelser utvecklas. Från brädspel till datorspel till de nyaste AR och VR spelen. Just nu arbetar utvecklare med att skapa nya upplevelser där det virtuella kombineras med verkligheten till en fulländad och trovärdig mix. Detta skapar utrymme för nya möjligheter at implementera teknologi i klassiska artefakter. Inom kontexten av brädspel finner vi många fysiska spelobjekt och tärningen är vald som huvud-karaktären för den här studien. Placerad mellan brädspel och digitala spel kommer nu AR spel. Tidigare forskning inom brädspel och teknologi gav intressant information inom kontexten och agerar som riktlinjer och som grund för ny design. Tärningen är världskänd så siktar den härstudien mot att ta reda på hur det här objektet kan utvecklas med hjälp av teknologi. Genom att arbeta med konceptdriven design och i nära relation med en AR spelstudio, designades den nya AR tärningen och det nya AR spelet DiceFold. En kvalitativ metod användes där experter inom industrin diskuterade de nya möjliga upplevelser inom AR spel och funktionaliteten hos AR tärningen, som kanske kan bli en ny del inom spelvärlden i en snar framtid. Denna studie resulterar i tre olika saker, den nya spel komponenten AR tärningen, det nya AR spelet DiceFold och mer information inom forskning av AR spel.

Anhand einer Befragung zu virtuellen und hybriden Prototypen, einem multimodalen Lösungsansatz zur Beurteilung von virtuellen Prototypen (Buchholz 2017), werden Erwartungshaltungen, Erfahrungswerte und Prioritäten von Experten in der Produktentwicklung dargestellt und analysiert. Die qualitative Expertenbefragung spiegelt ein aktuelles Meinungsbild der deutschen Industrie zur Verwendung solcher Prototypen wieder und eröffnet eine detaillierte Sicht auf Hürden, die es bei der Entwicklung und Planung zu bewältigen gilt, um die Hemmschwellen für den Einsatz mindern zu können. Im Zuge des Verbundprojekts „RobVRAR - Funktionale virtuelle Prüfsysteme für die roboterbasierte Qualitätsprüfung“ ist in Zusammenarbeit mit der Firma Battenberg ROBOTIC GmbH & Co. KG ein Heckklappen-Demonstrator gebaut worden, der sich als repräsentatives Beispiel eignet. Die Expertenbefragung enthält allgemeine Fragen zu hybriden Prototypen und Fragen, die sich konkret mit dem Heckklappen-Demonstrator befassen.

Background: There is a noticeable digital shift in the fashion industry. COVID-19 Pandemic has acted as a great accelerator to the digital shift. Specifically retail is one of the industries that has grown more digitally oriented as a result of the global pandemic that hit the world in 2020 (Moneta &amp; Sinclair, 2020). Extended reality technologies (XR) are major components of modern technologies. VR and AR, that fall under XR are being incorporated into the fashion media ecosystem, with the use of different applications (Silvestri, 2020). With the help of XR technology, virtual clothing was introduced to the consumers, which is the intersection of fashion and technology.  Purpose: In order to fill the gaps of literature, the purpose of this paper is to examine how young adults are adopting the brand’s use of extended reality technologies (XR), but specifically, their willingness to adopt virtual clothing.  Method: A qualitative approach was used which followed an interpretivist research philosophy. It included in-depth semi-structured interviews with 12 participants aged between 20-35. The general analytical approach was used to analyze the collected data, and the empirical findings were discussed in relation to the frame of reference.  Conclusion: The findings suggest young adults' adoption to brands' use of extended realities, specifically Virtual clothing is limited due to the lack of knowledge about those technologies. However there are clear signs indicating that they would adopt it in the future if it becomes a norm.