From Layar, a platform that anyone with a smart-phone can use to ”create their own augmented reality experiences”. As one of the co-founders state, this application is meant to combine the ”real world” and the digital one by bringing the digital into people’s everyday lives. This ”democratisation” of the AR implies that consumers will become more and more used to it and will therefore expect it in a variety of environments. The self-administered AR might mean that if Layar’s app will become more largely used (and most probably it will) the public’s expectations in terms of outdoor advertising will increase, making the AR the must have of any respectable brand.
In an industry that needs to disrupt to be noticed (as YahooAddBuzz stated at the recent Festival of Media) it’s not technology nor advertisers that drive trends- it’s consumers. It’s them who should be followed. Is AR something they’re reluctant to? (hypothetically speaking as in reality the opposite seems true) then forsake it altogether and don’t embrace things just because it’s the latest gimmick.
Layar’s various types of ”layers” : commercial, touristic, entertaining etc are chosen and downloaded by users from the company’s website and displayed while they’ re filming the surroundings. The AR’s democratisation goes further as Layar strives to ”make it easier for everyone to create and publish AR content” as one of the co-founders, Claire Boonstra quoted by TheAppPlanet puts it. This only means that smaller companies are now able to step into the ”AR” game simply by inserting a line of code into their apps.
Are we witnessing the beginning of mainstream AR use? Maybe.
