Augmented Reality: A Game Changer

via Jellyfish Technologies

Augmented Reality offers both entertainment and real-life experience, and is certainly grabbing attention for augmenting revenue

Augmented Reality (AR) has allowed users to interact virtually with their surroundings by bringing a wealth of collected data to the users’ fingertips.

Defining Augmented Reality

AR is a term used to describe a live view of a physical, real-world environment that is augmented by computer-generated sensory input, such as sound or graphics. A typical AR environment has digital information transposed onto a real-world view. While the technology has been around for years, in aircraft cockpits for instance, smartphones are helping to drive usage, as these high-end mobile devices put the necessary hardware-accelerometers, cameras, compasses, and GPS right in people’s pockets.

Blurring the Dichotomy

The experts are pulling graphics out of your television screen or computer display and integrating them into real-world environments, as they continue to blur the line between what’s real and what’s computer-generated by enhancing what we see, hear, feel, and smell.

In the recently held Mobile World Congress, Qualcomm showed how users can aim their phone at an ad from Norwegian boot maker Viking, and see different models superimposed over the ad. For its 2011 winter catalogue, Moosejaw, an outerwear retailer, utilized the AR technology to give viewers an ‘X-ray vision’ while looking through the catalogue.

These days the technology is making its presence felt right from toys to magazines, even Heinz Ketchup bottles offer recipes to anyone with a smartphone.

Qualcomm is working with ‘Sesame Street’ on an interactive playset that allows figurines of Bert and Ernie to come to life when captured by a smartphone. A museum in San Diego is using AR to show how magnetism works.

A new report from Juniper Research indicates that AR technology will generate $2 mn in 2012, but will jump to as much as $714 mn annually by 2014. AR mobile marketing revenue will largely be driven by subscription based services, advertising, and AR based app downloads.

Volkswagon utilized AR to target a consumer segment that valued high-performance capabilities. The German auto manufacturer placed AR-interfaced billboards around Toronto and Vancouver, allowing anyone with an iPhone or iPad tablet to view virtual Beetles and their performance and stunts.

The stunts were reminiscent of X Games performances, and the public locations gave the ads a sense of excitement. As one of the most exciting AR mobile marketing efforts to date, the campaign’s launch video generated over 100,000 views in just a few weeks, creating a lot of buzz for the company.

In celebration of the holiday season, and to create generate renewed interest in Starbucks, the coffee shop chain used AR to make images on decorated cups come to life. A free mobile app download, available on both Android and Apple mobile devices, allows consumers to view five different animated shows on five different cups. This promotion was unveiled in Starbucks shops across the country, and it created a lot of excitement in the tech world.