The augmented reality boom will transform phones (and business)
Augmented reality is frivolous, we’re told. It’s mainly for gimmicks and games.
But an important transformation is about to get under way. Starting next year, AR will begin transforming enterprise communications, logistics, manufacturing, analytics, product design, training, marketing, field service and more.
Today’s phones and tablets aren’t quite up to the task. But tomorrow’s will be.
Even business meetings will change. With ubiquitous AR, multiple devices can see the same thing in the same space. Imagine tablet users sitting around a conference table. While looking at their screens, all meeting participants will see the same 3D graphs floating in space above the table, the same virtual prototype, the same globe or the same holographic talking head.
Instead of PowerPoint presentations taking place on a wall, the presented data will be 3D, holographic and displayed in AR in the middle of the room or table. Best of all, remote participants will also see the same images. (The buzzword for this is “augmented reality collaboration.”)
The ultimate and eventual hardware platform for augmented reality will be glasses and goggles. But until technology advances enough to enable that broadly, AR will live on smartphones and tablets. Read more…
