Is Augmented Reality ready to take off?

Is Augmented Reality ready to take off?

Augmented Reality has been getting a lot of attention lately, as we have seen more tech brands and social media players developing and launching new features over this new way of reality experience. In fact, the tech community believes AR could be the next step in the digital age and eventually change the way we look at the world.

Unlike Virtual Reality, AR does not create a totally different environment. AR is meant to enhance the reality around us adding digital information and inserting virtual objects in the real world, in real-time. Transforming the environment with AR makes reality more exciting, fascinating and truly engaging. AR has the power to enhance our experience in the actual world and turn it into a game, but AR is not only about gaming.  With Augmented Reality we can enhance the environment with information and make it more interesting, interactive and even customized towards users.

However, there’s still a long way to make this AR experience extended to the masses on their daily routines. Just like it happened with any other new technology in the past, once people have reasonable access to it they will start using it. The keys to trigger this mass adoption will be making the hardware affordable and finding the first killer apps.

Since Pokémon Go massive success, some social networks such as Snapchat or Facebook have been introducing AR and VR new features and possibilities. The key is to leverage the power of the internet technology to make the world and people’s reality more fun and interactive between users. If this concept is translated into traditional industries, big corporations will be able to engage with consumers in a more entertaining way.

Taking into account a CAGR of 80% since 2014, and the value estimations for AR to reach $90 billion-a-year by 2021, all the tech giants are focused on launching their best HW and SW solutions to lead the market. We are all waiting for an innovative AR solution targeting a massive market in order to leverage its use worldwide.

OPI Digital Group aims to create that solution by enhancing the shopping experience to a totally new level, both Online and Offline, and creating a whole revolution in the retail business. Both Tokolicious and VR Latitude ventures are conceived to disrupt the user’s reality perception towards a more engaging reality that will enable a better engagement with the users. Technology is ready and market expectations are very positive. More importantly, we believe people are ready for this new step.