Augmented Reality (AR)

Is Augmented Reality (AR) the next big explosion for the mobile market? Will ‘AR’ as a phrase set to become the next most annoying and over-used term? Questions, questions, but perhaps the most pressing one is…’what the f**k is Augmented Reality and why should I care?

Well, the peeps over at Wikipedia define AR as this:

“a field of computer research which deals with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data (virtual reality), where computer graphics objects are blended into real footage in real time.”

Huh? Well, my best attempt at an explanation is that AR will blur the line between how we view our real world environment by overlaying computer generated graphics and information layers. So with mobile devices we’ll be able to use their video camera viewers to look around and be fed useful and interactive information about where we are. Brilliant!

Still having problems figuring out what I am talking about, check out this video about an AR app for the iPhone 3GS which helps Londoners figure out where their nearest tube station is. All should become clear.

Exciting isn’t it? One of the most compelling reasons to get an iPhone 3GS. And here we all were thinking that Apple was just being kind by giving us a better camera and the long awaited video camera capabilities bringing it in to line with other, but lesser, handsets. Maybe, just maybe, these new features are less about being kind and more about the possibilities that AR opens up. Certainly Apple have been paying a lot of attention to AR technology projects.

Just think, first there was the annoyance that people aren’t really present because though they are with you, they are constantly texting other people. Now, we are all going to be walking down the street holding our mobiles up to our faces like a lense.