As we move into Part 4 of our Five From Five mobile predictions from industry innovators in mobile Augmented Reality (AR), we reach out to Mobilizy, a pioneer in the space sharply focused on the development of location-based services and AR experiences for smartphones.
By way of background, Mobilizy — the company behind the world-first Wikitude World mobile AR browser — recently launched an app that is a leap ahead of other turn-by-turn navigation systems. Wikitude Drive (available in Austria, Germany and Switzerland) is a fully functional mobile AR navigation system with global coverage that uses AR and the smartphone camera view to offer the driver navigation instructions.
In practice the user places the mobile phone above the dashboard. The application then overlays video captured through the camera with driving instructions. This allows users to watch the road and look at directions.
I caught up with Martin Herdina, Mobilizy CEO, for his pick of the hottest mobile AR trends. Martin will also be back on MSearchGroove soon with a guest column elaborating on some of the key points below.
Martin’s five predictions:
1) Growth in active AR users. In 2011 we’ll see 20 million active AR users. These users are accessing an AR-based application at least once per month, independent from platform, device or actual AR use-case.
2) Mobile AR advances as a pre-installed technology. AR technologies such as image recognition and AR browsers will become commodity. In fact, we’ll see at least one platform/device manufacturer offer AR pre-installed as part of the operating system. The success of mobile AR will therefore be driven by interactive content and AR-based use-cases where AR becomes part of our everyday lives.
3) Advertising campaigns will raise public awareness of AR. We’ll see more brands and agencies harness AR (in combination with outdoor, billboard and print campaigns) to deliver marketing messages. While such campaigns will hardly be the norm in 2011, the increase in awareness (thus educating the industry about the ways AR can support advertising objectives) will be substantial.
4) AR will become more interactive and much more personal. Currently, most AR applications focus on displaying relatively static content. However, 2011 will see mobile AR go dynamic. A first step in this direction will be location, as a growing number of content providers add geo-references to their publications and assets, opening the door for AR-powered LBS applications. Against this backdrop, AR platform and infrastructure providers will need to develop smart concepts aimed at serving the right and relevant content (in the context of the right use case) to the right individual.
5) Social networks will leverage AR – with exciting results. AR will become social. Expect at least one major social network to make AR an essential part of its mobile strategy. This integration will pave the way for a number of social interactive services (around gaming and dating, for example) allow these networks to significantly extend their offerings.
Editor’s note: The five From Five series concludes on Monday with Qualcomm, a company making huge strides in AR after releasing its AR Software Development Kit (SDK) for Android smartphones in October 2010. Offered through Qualcomm’s online developer network, QDevNet, Qualcomm’s SDK enables a new breed of applications that delivers interactive 3D experiences on everyday objects, such as 3D gaming experiences on tabletops and interactive media experiences on product packaging and promotional items.