Let me be the first to share his predictions (don’t worry, it only gets better from here on). Following are five outrageous, yet reasonable, predictions about augmented reality for the next twelve months.
Oprah discovers augmented reality 
In 2009 she catapulted Twitter to the public eye, and in her last year as day-time host, Oprah Winfrey will do the same for augmented reality. After learning of all the cool features of the latest 4.0 release of Layar, from NY Times columnist David Pogue (“You can actually see where I parked my car with this gadget? That’s amazing!”) , Oprah give an iPhone preloaded with Layar to everyone in her audience. Augmented reality has become mainstream.
Microsoft buys Wikitude April 2010. A young engineer at Redmond comes with a brilliant idea on how to push Photosynth forward. So many people are using augmented reality browsers not realizing they are taking an enormous number of geo-tagged photographs. If only those photos were uploaded to one centralized place, they could serve as a great input for Photosynth. And thus Microsoft acquires Wikitude gaining a visual coverage of major cities around the world. Google’s Streetview becomes outdated overnight.
Augmented Reality is blamed to incite violence amongst teens May 2010. Parents across middle America rally together, calling to ban violent AR games from the iTunes appstore. This, following a shooting accident that left two high school kids wounded. The shooter, a teenage boy that no one noticed until the incident, was apparently addicted to the latest augmented shooting game augmented sniper (only $1.99 on the appstore). Soon, many other augmented reality applications find themselves under attack.
Augmented Playboy
February 2010. Playboy, taking a lesson from Esquire, issues a special edition featuring augmented reality markers (shaped like their logo’s bunny) that lets you see that month’s centerfold actually sitting on your sofa in your very own living room. Using another marker with an image of a hand on it, the user can tickle her. The technology is said to have been acquired from a Japanese company that made a similar product starring a Manga character. The porn industry is not very far behind, and March 2010 marks the release data of the first AR pornographic film (and my readers will excuse me for not going into details).
Apple tries to patent augmented reality And succeeds in doing so. But no one cares except AR bloggers around the world. Don’t forget to vote on our survey. Together we can predict how 2010 is going to be (and do a far better job than the predictions above)
The fine print – I’ve tossed a coin before using Layar for the first prediction and Wikitude for the second. No hidden intention was behind choosing those two.
Credits:
Opera image by http://www.flickr.com/photos/fecki/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Playboy image by http://www.flickr.com/photos/26160201@N08/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: AR2010 |
Games Alfresco 
Thanks for sharing the Microsoft Photosynth to Wikitude convergence idea. I LOVE the Photosynth technology and have been disappointed not to see it make inroads into consumer applications. Hat tip to you.
On another note…
An agency client of mine, [Name Withheld], pitched for the digital marketing piece of the Playboy account earlier this year, and that was exactly the concept that was the centerpiece of their pitch — a Playboy centerfold come to life via AR using the bunny logo as the marker. No kidding. They didn’t win the business. Now that the pitch is long since over, I think I’m at liberty to reveal that. I wouldn’t be surprised if Playboy pinches the idea and produces it themselves.
Also FACT: At least one representative of the “adult entertainment industry” was in attendance at the west coast AR Dev Camp on Saturday. Just sayin’
As for the rest.
Oprah is a big fan of Vuzix glasses. She’s already given major airtime to the Wrap 310. So she’s already onboard. Slam dunk.
The Apple bit is already an old story about a patent already filed and (I think) already awarded. Inside joke I guess.
Blaming teen violence on… anything society can point the finger at? That one is probably shooting fish in a barrel.
Nice roundup. I should write a response post.
cheers,
Chris
wow about playboy – thanks for sharing.
And yes, inside joke.
We got Oprah!!!! wOOt!!! Thanks!!! ;-)
Isn’t wikitude using Panoramio for pictures which is owned by Google which already superimpose (in 3d) these pictures in streat view (at least for unesco sites http://bit.ly/4ZoWci)?
Funny – I know about another AR-pitch for playboy. Unfortunately it also failed with no specific reason given…
Photosynth generated point clouds and positioning with them is REALLY needed for AR to evolve imho.