Zugara

In a previous blog post, we looked at the different areas that contributed to the success of Pokémon Go including the Pokémon brand, geolocation and Augmented Reality. Now a recent survey by Vasona Networks shows that most Pokémon Go players want more Augmented Reality.

$258M in 5 weeks, 20M active users, etc. With those types of numbers, it’s easy to see why brands and retailers are jumping on the Pokémon Go and Augmented Reality bandwagon. But we wanted to take a closer look at the different ways brands and retailers are utilizing Pokémon Go to drive people to their store and what types of promotions they are using for users while in store.

We’ve updated our website with a section featuring new Zugara computer vision and Augmented Reality engines. Our Technology page lists the latest engines we have available for Gesture Recognition, Facial Recognition and Mobile Augmented Reality and Geolocation functionality.

The Pepsi Exhibit featured AR facial recognition, AR image recognition, VR Oculus experience and projection mapping.

It’s official Pokemon Go is a massive hit and driving Augmented Reality and Geolocation adoption. In less than a week, Pokemon Go has: - Reached the top of the iOS and Android app stores - Is reportedly driving over $1.6 million dollars a day from the iTunes store alone - Is about to surpass Twitter for number of active daily users... More importantly, news articles are heralding a new era of location-based gaming where people are actually going outside again and exercising more. So while Pokemon Go is the latest cultural phenomenon, what are the triggers creating this massive mobile hit?

One of the main barriers that keeps shoppers from going online is not being able to see products in person 60% of US consumers prefer to shop in-store because they can see, touch, and feel the products, according to a report from PwC. But VR and AR tools will change this over time by giving shoppers in-store capabilities at home. As VR technology, in particular, becomes more mainstream, shoppers expect it to change their shopping experiences. Overall, 74% of US shoppers anticipate that VR will impact their buying decisions, according to a survey from Walker Sands.

As an Augmented Reality company, Zugara has shifted to development of technologies for both Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality ecosystems. We’re huge fans of both industries and feel they both will be the next major disruptive technology (Goldman Sach’s tends to agree.) However, having survived the initial Augmented Reality hype cycle of 2008-2010, we see many of the same issues with the current Virtual Reality hype cycle especially with 360 degree videos.

In a recent Economist article on the differences between Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, they simplified AR and VR down to a film reference: If virtual reality is The Matrix, then Augmented Reality is Terminator. Though this generalization helps with the broader concepts of AR vs. VR, it doesn’t quite help explain all the different technologies that need further development to make these AR and VR concepts a reality. We’ll take a look at some popular Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality tech from movies and review what is cinematic fantasy or near term reality.

Deloitte recently released it’s 2016 Tech Trends Report which had a section devoted to Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and the evolution of user interface design and interaction. The report identifies eight trends that are likely to disrupt businesses in the next 18-24 months from blockchain to augmented reality, the Internet of Things, socially responsible applications of technology and more. The report overall is a great read that you can view here. There’s also some analysis related to Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in the report with one specific area I wanted to expand on a bit below.

We’ve just released a new 3D camera engine for Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality environments called IVO. IVO stands for Interactive Virtual Object engine. In the IVO demo, you can grab, position, scale, rotate and animate various 3D virtual objects using gestures.

Over the last few months, there have been numerous Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality market projections coming out from Goldman Sachs, Digi-Capital, and ABI Research. These market projections tend to range from the Goldman Sachs low end of $80 Billion to the Digi-Capital high end of $120 Billion. You can read more detail here.

Zugara’s presentation was focused on how Augmented Reality has evolved on the enterprise side of retail and how brands and retailers have been deploying Virtual Dressing Room technology. A few of these Virtual Dressing Room use cases were also presented at the AWE Asia conference last year and we have a more detailed blog post on Virtual Dressing Room use cases and product engagement here.

Recent news from Digi-Capital showed that in the 1st quarter of 2016, investment in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality grew to $1.1 billion ( compared to $700m total in 2015). As we’ve noted in the past, investment in Augmented Reality has been particularly slow in comparison to other technologies on the Gartner Hype Cycle. Initial investment for 2015 and 2016 seems to be titled towards Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality hardware, but as both AR and VR ecosystems grow, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality software should see it’s own share of investment acceleration.