Augmented Reality: Which Business Opportunities ?

Everybody have heard this term and knows that it is a new technology. But few people know what exactly it is or what is its potentiality. Too bad, because plenty of new businesses are possible with it. Actually, almost everything that we do today can be “improved” with the augmented reality (AR). But first, what is augmented reality? The basic definition, according to wikiepdia, is a “live view of physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video or graphics”. Like on the picture, you see your real hand with a false toy on it.

People need to think out of the box to get all the potential of it. It’s the case of Oren Jacob who gave an interview to the Stanford University to present his new app on tablet_ ToyPlay. Basically, the app allows a kid to play in live with a character. More than playing, it’s a live conversation that is possible. Oren Jacob says that we need to use all the capabilities of the tablet device to think about new apps. The tablet gets the microphone and a camera and you can touch it. So, you can program a character to interact with you. Here is the video:

There are plenty of business opportunities for using augmented reality. Some sounds not really interesting or maybe dangerous such as the facial recognition in the street. But others seem promising:

1.       Shopping

In front of your computer, you can try all the clothes you want, change the color, etc. We know that the online shopping is still growing. This is definitely the new step in online shopping. You can also imagine how will fix a new furniture in your living room. You just select the product and put your tablet in your living room to see how it looks.

Check this cicso's advertisement : 

2.       Entertainment

It’s quite frustrating to check on our smartphone all the time to get information about something we are seeing . With AR, you just have to put your device in front of the thing you want to learn more about. For example, you can targeting a player on a soccer field and instantly see his performance during the season. In museums, audio guides will not be useful anymore. You can have on your tablet someone explaining to you all the paintings of the museum.

3.       Marketing

The AR can work by using cards that you put in front of a camera. You can imagine giving these cards in the street or a mall or even sending them by mail like catalogues and then people can check on a screen how the product looks like and moving it in all direction to see every angles. 

4.       Training

Airplane pilots already train in a simulator. But these machines are very expensive. With the AR, you can manipulate for example mechanical pieces in a motor again and again before doing it for real.

5.       Advertising

After the “classic” advertisement in the subway with posters, you can see now some videoscreen. The next generation is the AR. Imagine looking at a wall with the advertisement for traveling in the Pacific islands. With AR, you can see the trees moving and the dolphins jumping in the sea.

However, this technology needs a device between our eyes and the real world. The next step is to avoid this device or at least not feeling it anymore. This is the google glasses project. Your screen and your camera are fixed in the glasses. You can see all around you without touching anything. Check this video and after think about all the business opportunities it offers.