Many futurists consider augmented reality (AR) to be a technology that will be highly prevalent in the near future, where displays will project images using special glasses or some other device to see images enhanced or changed depending on context, much like how visual prompts appear in many modern video games. While the technology for AR hasn’t been realized in a way that is cheap and easy to use, it could be a killer app when it does release.
As an emerging platform, augmented reality doesn’t depend on mobile, kiosks, window displays, or breakthrough baseball cards — however magical and engaging these deployments may be. It depends on the technology being all those things referenced a few lines up. AR apps of course have to be unbreakable; but what they really have to be is unforgettable. And technology is fundamental to attaining that precious intangible, writes Bruno Uzzan. AR needs to be viewed in that context, a technology platform that is more than versatile enough to flourish beyond digital marketing. Certainly, enabling web-based AR quickly opened up an enormous array of digital marketing applications. Digital marketing is still the very visible tip of the iceberg, but below the water line, there’s a vast array of applications — many of them transformative — that are poised for development, even as marketing applications mature.
AR has heavy potential for e-commerce, education, medicine, consumer products, public safety and more. With such a multifaceted technology, it’s important to understand all the technologies defining themselves as AR and what they are capable of.
AR is a trend, not a gimmick, asserts Uzzan. It’s a new paradigm that encompasses anything digital or virtual that ‘crosses over’ into your real environment. We all need to catch up to the technology – it’s evolving so quickly that it’s been difficult to process and even more challenging to assimilate. We’re stepping into a new world, where a variation of Moore’s Law applies: capabilities and application knowledge are growing almost exponentially. The skillset is expanding accordingly, and AR will be even more pervasive a year from now. Markerless tracking – which relies on natural targets to trigger the AR experience – figures to be a key element. Ditto for face-tracking, hand-tracking, other gestural techniques – even RFID.
AR has slowly gone from technical demonstrations to serious applications and it should bleed over more in the coming years. The progression from entertainment to real utility, from custom installations to commoditized products, is now under way. Watch as it continues to unfold. It should be quite a ride. For real, concludes Uzzan.
Source: MediaPost
