Augmented reality set for major growth: ABI Research

Increasing smartphone capabilities will cause augmented reality to have a booming impact on the mobile platform, according to a new study from ABI Research. As advertisers leverage the augmented-reality platform more, ABI found that the technology is poised to grow from generating $6 million in revenue in 2008 to $350 million in 2014. ABI credits advanced smartphone capabilities such as video cameras, GPS data and compasses as key to unlocking the power of augmented-reality advertising.

“The key finding is that the augmented reality market will diversify into multiple markets, which will generate nearly $190 million in mobile applications, games and customized augmented-reality revenue, and nearly $170 million in mobile augmented-reality advertising revenue, by 2014,” said Larry Miller, research director of NextGen at ABI Research, Oyster Bay, New York. Augmented reality is the overlay of graphics onto a video stream or other real-time display. ABI Research provides analysis and forecasting of emerging worldwide trends.

ABI cites Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android handsets as examples of smartphones opening up augmented reality to the mass marketplace.The study, “Augmented Reality: Adding Information to Our View of the World,” found that advertisers will learn to insert tags into navigation displays to increase revenue. The study calls for the development of global databases to store a variety of geo-tag information. That will be aggregated from information contributed from governments, businesses and individuals. Mr. Miller said that the most surprising finding of the study was the lack of companies involved with sports-related augmented reality. He said that the study found that only one company is providing augmented reality applications for televised sporting events. Those features include moving the first down line in football and the strike-zone animations in baseball.

“Augmented Reality is rooted in the concept of adding information to visual displays,” Mr. Miller said. “Digital marketing campaigns incorporating Web-based augmented reality graphics can add new dimensions to the kinds of content available for online advertising.“ For marketers to find success with augmented reality, the applications will have to offer better information, an intuitive user interface and other features that are not possible through existing applications. Mr. Miller said that augmented reality can also be used for mobile commerce. “Here’s one possibility: Imagine going into a store, aiming your smartphone’s camera at a product and having the display show not only the product, but competitive pricing at online venues,” Mr. Miller said. “Currently, mobile augmented reality applications require a smartphone or other handheld device with a camera, GPS and compass capabilities, as well as adequate processing power,” he said. “Augmented reality applications eventually will run the gamut of consumer interests.”