Some time ago I wrote
an article about how augmented reality needs Apple. Not for revolution ideas,
not for revolution projects but just for the brand. For many years Apple is an
icon of innovation, almost every one of
their ideas is a bestseller. Now we have the ARKit. What now ?
Is this what we wanted ?
When I was writing my previous article I was sure that
answer on this question will be very easy, but now…I’m not so sure anymore.
Yes, because it brings augmented reality to wider audience. Yes,
because it presents possibilities which are brought by AR to our every day
life. ARKit allows to materialize a lot of different and exciting concepts.
This is fantastic ! No doubt about it. This is also a great boost for other producers.
We are in the middle of technological war between manufacturers, if someone is
entering market with a new idea, others will try to catch up. Just today I saw
an article about possibility of a special version of the Samsung Note 8 with Project
Tango. That is what I wanted, the race for augmented reality mounted into the smartphone.
Just for that I must say “THANK YOU APPLE !”.
Is there a “no” ? Unfortunately yes. I’ve understood it
during my research. It is not about technology itself. It is rather more about
content that it is providing. Recently we saw similar situation with Windows
mobile platform. The operating system was cool, it was something new and fresh BUT
it didn’t provide enough content so it was disqualified for many. ARKit itself
is great, it gives the developers a lot of new possibilities but we still do
not have enough content. Of course you can say “give them some more time” but I
think it is not the only factor. We still have problems with finding useful use
cases for augmented reality.
How to sum this up ?
1.
Apple done a fantastic work for spreading augmented
reality to consumers
2.
It is an interesting tool that gives great
possibilities for experiments
3.
We need to find usage for AR in our lives.
Without that it will be just a gadget for small group of geeks
I’m looking forward for new projects, I want to observe what
this will bring for us, AR fans.