What is Augmented Reality?

Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that superimposes a computer­generated image on a user's view of the real world, thus providing a composite view of the world to the user. With the massive upsurge in the use of smartphones (Gartner estimates that smartphone and tablet sales will increase from the current $1.2 billion to $2 billion by 2015), it is clear that consumers are using their devices to interact with all kinds of digital information.

The experience of using your smartphone as a bridge between the real and digital world is augmented reality’s prime value proposition. The “bridge” could be used to enhance a regular task to make it more exciting and intuitive; for example, in 2009, Yelp! released it’s ‘Monocle’ feature, which allowed users to use their camera to “find” new places to explore around them[1]. This feature made Yelp! the first ever application on the iPhone to have an augmented reality component. The monocle feature aimed at giving users an easier and more exciting way to explore the Yelp! map using geolocation, i.e., through the lenses of their phones but without having to crouch over their screens to do so. The other important use of augmented reality in practice could to allow the user to perform tasks that would normally be impossible given the current environment; for example in



2012, Volvo, for the release of the S60, decided to target a younger demographic. They created a YouTube masthead that allowed users to “play the Augmented Reality Driving Game with their phones using the current environment of the user” [2]. This meant that users could drive a car set in a map that mirrored the environment of, say, their office building, but on their mobile phones! Hence, it allowed users to use augmented r...

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... search startup, earned $3 million in venture funding after their very first demo at the Computer Vision Lab at the Technology University of Zurich [17].

The following graph from ABI Research shows the current and predicted rates of investment in AR development companies (that offer AR development as a service) from 2012 to 2018 [18].

Conclusion

We conclude that the emerging field of augmented reality is worth investing in, the most promising opportunity being in companies that offer AR­as­a­service, that provide AR software solutions to other companies via applications, print media or campaign



management, in order to help boost brand image, interactivity and eventually, revenue for their customers. We believe that this has more promise at the current time than AR product companies due to the lack of promising products in the startup scene and high risk involved.