Augmented Reality - 2011 AR Predictions - Road To Barcelona
In this series we’re profiling top mobile industry trends in the run-up to Mobile World Congress 2011.
One of the main driving forces of the internet has been bringing real life to the online world where it can be recreated and restructured. With Augmented Reality (AR) slowly but surely entering the spotlight this step of recreation can soon be skipped entirely. Reality can be captured right then and there and a layer of data stuck on top of it. Key to AR is the rapid success of smart phones, mobile apps, as well as camera and display technology that makes it possible to capture and display reality in real life.
According to Gartner’s Hype Cycle AR has left the “Technology Trigger” phase in 2010 and has instead reached the “Peak of Inflated Expectation.” Since closely linked to geolocation communities, which are currently dominating the mobile app world, a lot of attention will be drawn to AR in 2011. It will be one of the trending topics for hardware and software makers alike who will focus on how AR can be used for a variety of industries such as retail and gaming.
Consumers will hardly have any problems to get used to AR services since they seem to be a logical step up from existing mapping technologies: Just take out your phone use your camera to check out your surroundings to look for ATMs, restaurants or the nearest train station.
Not only since AR is mainly about the mobile experience will it be one of the trends to be discussed in Barcelona at the 2011 Mobile World Congress. The Session “Augmented Reality: Is Reality Ready to be Augmented” for instance will look at aspects such as hardware capability, usability and discuss who will take the lead in its development.
Posted by Martin Gleissner on January 14, 2011 at 10:34 AM
