Page 65 - AVN January 2016

AliceX Targets Live Cam Space
With VR Technology
by DANMILLER
Fabian Grey admits building his Virtual Reality adult webcam service turned out to
be more challenging than he first imagined.
“To be honest we started out a bit naive,” Grey recalls of the early development
stages of AliceX. “We thought, yeah that’s a cool product we can do this. We just
ventured out into the blue. We already thought it’s going to be a big project. But we
underestimated a bit how much goes into it.”
But once Grey’s team realized what kind of effort it
would take to bring the platform to life, it responded to the
challenge, doing its due diligence to create an innovative
package that is nearing completion.
“We are very happy with how it came out,” the
Switzerland-based CEO told AVN in an interview from
Hamburg, Germany, as AliceX navigated its third month of
beta testing. “I think we can now push this very far.”
AliceX, more than a year in the making, is a web-based
VR live cam product that allows users to customize their
experience.
The models on AliceX’s platform are filmed against
a green screen which allows the user to change the
background. Users take in HD, 3D experiences with a latency that is below 400
milliseconds. The idea is for users to feel like they are in the room with the model.
A user needs only an Android smartphone and a VR headset; soon the service will
be available on the iPhone once its iOS technology is updated to support AliceX. A
free cardboard VR headset will be provided by AliceX, or users may choose to buy a
higher end headset.
AliceX is currently compatible with Android users with high-end phones like
Samsung S6 Edge, Nexus 5, and LG 4. Future devices will include the Oculus Rift and
HTC Vive headsets.
Grey said a key advantage of AliceX’s technology is users do not need to bother
with installing an app or extra software, as the service is available via AliceX.com
through a web browser, like Chrome.
The name AliceX was strategic, according to Affiliate Manager Lee Bond.
”Well, it’s a live cams product and by their nature cams products are much more
about the connection with the client, so we wanted to use a female name, one that
would be very easy to connect with, and the most common ‘A’ names we had were
Alex and Alice,” Bond said. “And we decided that Alice sounded a bit more classy or
lady-like, because if you’re AlexX, that could be either sex, so AlexX may be the gay
version later.”
Grey at press time said his developers were working with the South America-
based AJ Studios to build three additional cam rooms for models, giving AliceX five
24/7 live streams.
“We already have two rooms but we want to ramp this up because we know users
want more choice,” he explained. “They want more streams and more models online
and this is a big part of being a cam site.”
AJ Studios is a live content production company widely regarded as the most
established supplier of cam models in Latin America. With multiple offices, AJ
Studios has more than 300 models working seven days a week. The company is also
the founding partner of LALEXPO, which is the first adult B2B event in Latin America.
AliceX already works with Romanian models.
“The model side is certainly very important. That’s why we’re also investing a lot
of resources into making
the whole tech side more
accessible and cheaper,
so that in the near future
independent models can
work with our site,” Grey said.
Grey said the new cam
rooms should be set up by
mid-June; the improved
AliceX infrastructure should
be done by then as well; and
the HTC Vive and Oculus
Rift headsets should follow
shortly after. The timeframe
for iPhone integration is less
clear, he added.
A seven-year adult industry
veteran, Grey said his team of
developers is 12 deep, while
he’s in the process of assembling a robust marketing division.
“This is something that hopefully will be ready in the next couple of weeks, that we
have a good marketing team that does not only the media buys and the affiliate side,
but also PR, SEO and social media,” Grey revealed.
He said the customizable backgrounds help with immersion and that ultimately
those backgrounds will come alive.
“I think at a certain point we should be able to have animated backgrounds,”
Grey forecasted. “So let’s say for the beach scene we could have the waves coming
“I think the much more important features of AliceX
are the very high-quality 3D stream, the low latency,
the voice-to-voice connection with the model and
especially that it is browser-based. So you don’t need
to download anything, it works right out of the gate
with high-end Android phones, and soon Oculus Rift,
Vive and later on iPhone.”
—Fabian Grey, CEO, AliceX
ashore. Or with the moon scene that we have we could have a rocket ship landing.
This will take some time and it’s also depending a bit on the processing power of
the phone.”
He continued, “I think the much more important features of AliceX are the very
high-quality 3D stream, the low latency, the voice-to-voice connection with the
model and especially that it is browser-based. So
you don’t need to download anything, it works
right out of the gate with high-end Android
phones, and soon Oculus Rift, Vive and later on
iPhone.”
Grey said he is excited about being part of
advancing the industry’s technological imprint.
“I think with the emerging market of VR and the
VR industry in general, I think it is very much about
technology and about products, how to guide
the user. How to educate the user. How to make
it very simple for the user to use it, because it is
a new device, a new platform, new technology.
Which is already a bit confusing, so it’s even more
important to guide the user, to show him the way,”
the CEO said.
“And I think this is where our expertise comes in. We have always focused on
product and this is now our advantage. We have a very good tech team. We know
how to set up a very good product, how to make it sustainable on the tech side so it
doesn’t break down with the next iteration of the new cycle.
“I think this is what makes it quite unique for the user as well. And we firmly
believe in the future of VR, that it will become a sizable niche market in two,
three years and then afterwards it will become part of mainstream in terms of
entertainment and this is where we will focus on.”
Go Ask AliceX Models include (clockwise from top left) Beryl, Raquelle, Susan-Birdy and Mistress Alexya.
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