WHAT EXACTLY IS AUGMENTED REALITY? Augmented Reality (AR) as the name suggests augments our real worldview by enhancing it. With the rise in innovation in app development, somebody had to enter the arena of adding value to existing reality. In the last decade, many Augmented Reality companies have evolved, creating their own Augmented Reality applications and garnering investments in millions of dollars. The game changers were the AR & VR games which caught on like wildfire from the word go like PokĂŠmon Go that demonstrated how an effective AR system can enhance an experience and bring something larger than life on to a small screen.
Pokemon is perhaps the most successful AR game for Android
As things stand today, the demand for AR is humongous. With independent Augmented reality companies vying for a space in the niche market, the growth can only be imagined!
With all the hype around the technology, what’s the big deal? Augmented reality (not to be confused with Virtual Reality, which is a subject for another time) simulates a digital reality, based in a real world setting, which makes a person to not just see his surroundings in a different light but also make changes he wants to see, on a screen. If you are aware of the latest trends in technology you might be aware of augmented reality by usage if not by name. You would have used or at least seen the live filters that Instagram offers its users that makes them grow dog ears and tongue on their face and how they watch in excitement as their new found organs react to their facial expressions.
That is the basic form of an augmented reality, which takes the real world setting (the face in this particular case) and adds to it the ears and the tongue. A more sophisticated approach is Augmented Reality in marketing and advertising, which started as an attempt to engage the consumers and make them feel connected to the brand and the product. Almost every huge company out there is trying their best to come up with the best Augmented Reality ads.
But why is AR being given such importance? Apart from its use as a fun element, Augmented Reality technology can be found across many fields like healthcare, business and education. Everyday it grows and captures a new area of our daily lives.
Augmented Reality for education, especially in medicine
Augmented Reality has the potential to make our lives easier, by cutting on time and resources. Imagine renovating your house by scanning it on your mobile screen and making all the changes to your house without actually making any. You could do it as many times as you like, until you are completely satisfied and then you apply your changes to your actual home, after you know how it will look like. It can also help us in understanding things that might not be as easy to grasp. Imagine a student who is reading chemistry from a textbook. He would be able to learn much better if he could see the models of molecules pop out on his screen, giving him a closer look at what they look like, in 3D.
Businesses could be more efficient if a 3D model of a product can be shown instead of an actual prototype, right at the place the consumer wants it to be in. Which saves both money and time. There is much more an AR can do and more developments are still being made.
So when will such feats be achieved? Surprisingly, functional Augmented Reality systems have been in use from early 90s (like the colored lines during the live telecast of a cricket match) and early bold inventions go back to the 50s. Since it required lots of equipment and was costly, its use was not as mainstream. Its only with the invention of smartphones that Augmented Reality has found a mainstream channel for usage and brought an immersive technology into the palms of the common man. It has become as easy as using the camera on your phone (actually that’s exactly what you do). This decade has seen a huge burst in this domain and the marketing industry exploded as companies found a new way to enhance the customer experience with the new tech in town.
How does an Augmented Reality system work? An Augmented Reality system fetches 3D models, additional information and other data that the user would like, to the screen. All the users need to do is scan their surroundings using an app integrated with an Augmented Reality system, with their smartphones or tablet cameras. Also, this data can be linked to particular pictures, for example print ads in newspapers, so that these 3D models or data pop up on the screen as soon as the user scans that picture through his camera. It’s easy-to-use with effective means of displaying a product’s key features with the complete model to the prospective buyers or investors.
WOWSOME’s role in this revolution. WOWSOME understands that your brand needs to establish a connection with its consumers so that they keep coming back for more. With the help of Augmented Reality, WOWSOME builds just that. WOWSOME app equips your business with an Augmented Reality system to help you build an image that their prospective customers will have a hard time to forget. It also instills in them a curiosity about your product because of the uniqueness with which you have projected it to them and just when your product has their utmost attention, WOWSOME compels them to go to your website or your business page by providing them with links on the screen. Presenting your product at expos and presentations has never been this easy too. Instead of transporting prototypes of all your products or bringing your prospects to them, you can let them
see your 3D models wherever you want them to and whenever they have the time to, making communications more effective.
Mixed Reality Experience at forum mall powered by WOWSOME
So far, WOWSOME has delightfully surprised visitors at various events with its many fun filled instalments, spread awareness about healthcare in exhibits and changed the way real estate works amazingly.
Augmented Reality application in Real Estate
With the Interactive Print technology, WOWSOME can make your visiting card stand out by making you pop out of it, make your newspaper ads come to life on a screen or make your packaging a treat for the eyes.
Interactive Print posters for the DJ Ivan concert
There is no better way to enhance the customer experience than surprising them with something they haven’t seen before. Isn’t that WOWSOME?