Will the future be Augmented?
What if you could see things no one else could see?
What if the objects around you could communicate to you?
Sounds like the plot of a Sci-Fi movie? Well, it is the future, a future adorned with augmentation of the real world.
Augmented reality (AR) overlaps the virtual world and the real world to create a ‘fantasy-like’ experience. With AR, you can view your living room on a smartphone and see how virtual furnitures would fit into the real world. The applications are infinite and will be limited to the inventor’s imagination. They span through numerous sectors from training, marketing, education, e-commerce, retail to real estate.
The outcomes are endless and the revenue making opportunities are unimaginable. AR systems can spice up anything promotional or worth marketing. Brands such as Nike are already going full guns with AR and the future is all set to be augmented if the current trends are to be believed. And if one of the most popular apps of 2016, Pokemon Go has taught us something, it is that the reality in the future will be augmented.
Augmented Reality has still got a long way to go and these are some of the challenges it might face on the road to capturing the market.
1. Marketing: Lousy marketing campaigns might completely dig the grave for this technology and unless something unique and innovative is thought upon, it might just fade away.
2. Content: Content defines the eventual outcome of any new product. If content developers fail to understand the possibilities and limitations of AR, and churn out cliched content, the future of AR might be very bleak.
3. Hardware: Making AR hardware readily available to the masses is a big concern. Eventually, if the right tool to access AR is not available in the market at affordable rates, the whole process of developing it will go down the drain.
Similar challenges were faced by the Internet, Mobile Phone, Social Media Giants but the investors stuck to the task and made the technology a necessity for the masses.
One point of view to look at AR is that it is expected to grow by 90% every year until these challenges do not saturate and hinder it. Companies are spending big bucks on AR. However, it is still under the clouds and there are many prospects on which leading tech giants are working on. Reportedly, Microsoft has paid as much as $150 million to buy IP assets related to augmented reality.
AR is also taking upper hand in the field of advertising and promotional events. Today smartphones have in-built GPS receivers, compasses and accelerometers that make it possible to know exactly where it’s located and what they are viewing. Augmented reality applications such as “Layar” utilizes these features to show people information through their camera screens about the surrounding businesses.
Click here to watch how Layar works
So, there is no doubt that investors believe in the technology and will continue to invest in its R&D consistently. AR is set to change gaming e-commerce, education or to put it in simpler terms, our everyday lives.
How will AR transform our future?
1. Digital Marketing: Digital Marketing of your product via ground-breaking Augmented Reality tools will ensure bigger market share. Augmented Reality is recognized as an enhanced marketing application that customers can engage with at home, in store, or on the go. Services such as augmented packaging, on street marketing, geolocalized apps, and interactive consumer products will change the marketing trends.
2. Mapping: Geo-location and its real time display of enhanced maps will change how we navigate. Augmented Reality can provide classified and suggestive information to the user such as nearby restaurants, bars, grocery stores, and fashion outlets.
3. Education: Educational resources are magnified by Augmented Reality systems and can be used to recreate events or transform books into 3D images all superimposed in real-time. Augmented Reality is an excellent virtual assistant for educators in classroom settings and helps students gain a deeper understanding on the topic. By overlapping content to media, the reading experience is made more enriching.
4. Industry Applications: Industrial, military and medical applications regarding the genesis and development of a concept can be made simpler by Augmented Reality. When soldiers need information on their surroundings they can refer to detailed 3-Dimensional maps. If a doctor is performing a surgery, a live human subject can be made accessible. Occupations of all kinds can benefit from AR applications. The workforce can be trained well and also be assisted in day to day operations.
Whether you find your future-self living in a world where Christopher Nolan’s’ epic Sci-Fi film “Interstellar” spurs imagination around you or you are on the hunt for a rare Pokemon GO species, Augmented Reality is as real as it gets and it is here to stay.
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
-Albert Einstein
