Augmented reality (AR) is still in its infancy… yet a sci-fi future is projected and this summer it feels like you cant go anywhere without AR popping up.
It’s the crux of Apple and Android’s latest super fight with new toolboxes cracking mobile development wide open, and the rush to reproduce the shockwaves “Pokémon Go” whipped up are palpable. But wait the duopoly now has a third and more promising competitor. Who else than. FB.
At F8 earlier this year, Facebook announced that it was working with businesses to use AR to show off products in Messenger. Now a similar experience will start appearing in the News Feed, with a select group of advertisers testing out AR ads.
Demand across advertising and e-commerce grows as AR evolves from fad to finesse but the fact remains that AR wizardry is still incredibly labor-intensive.
An uphill challenge is faced in releasing standalone AR apps, which take time to build then still provide inconsistent experiences and boy, is that field getting mighty busy and diversifying in client tell. So here we are AR is going mainstream and people haven’t realized. Its fully there now. Check it out.
Moviebill capitalized in May on Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War by enabling theater-goers to generate 3D AR models of Ironman, Black Panther + Rocket Raccon in just one of the potent AR examples the monumental film has warranted.
Other brands like 7-Eleven jumped on aboard the superhero AR bandwagon by introducing Deadpool into its customers’ worlds on the cusp of the sequel’s release.
Oxygen is doing something altogether more exciting and drawing on the incredible popularity of crime dramas with Exhibit A: Forensic Detective: Inside the Crime Scene, a new iOS game that generates crime scenes within a player’s environment and offers a range of innovative activities. With the heavyweight audience numbers touted by CSI and the like, could this be the next Pokémon Go-esque AR game-changer? Will have to wait and see.
Lastly, Qualcomm announced this summer Snapdragon XR1 the worlds first dedicated chip to power AR and VR headsets. So we continue to progress into this summer of AR, with the writing on the wall. It’s become mainstream.
And the dawning of a new day is certainly closer than ever.