Augmented Reality to become more about cash than hype

by Staff, revolutionmagazine.com 23-Oct-09, 15:00

NEW YORK - Mobile handsets will cause the global augmented reality market to grow from around $6 million (£3.7 million) to be worth $350 million a year by 2014, new research suggests.

Although augmented reality has existed for more than 15 years, traditionally it has been used for applications such as flight simulators and in industrial design.A report published by ABI Research says that advertising and the popularity of smartphones will combine to deliver dramatic growth.

ABI warns, however, that technological advances are still required for augmented reality to really go mainstream.

The report's author, Joe Madden, said: "The new capabilities of handset platforms create an explosive opportunity for augmented reality technology.

"Today's customised, direct business-to-business augmented reality supply chain will continue to see incremental growth in military, automotive, and entertainment applications, but those businesses will be overshadowed by the mass-market dynamics of mobile handset application sales and advertising revenue streams."

Comments

john lush - 26/10/2009

Rather than being clever, for AR to become mainstream, advertisers need to think creatively about how it can be used to expand print advertising. This will enable a direct link to the web, rather than merely directional.

editor mobiThinking - 27/10/2009

AR on mobile provides fantastic marketing opportunities – we've explored a few here: http://www.mobithinking.com/blog/even-better-real-thing-how-augmented-reality-brings-mobile-web-life-brands-and-consumers