This is where Augmented Reality is going to tip. ...

This is where Augmented Reality is going to tip.

Not in the wild, not in HUD-emulating applications that add an information layer to everything you see and interact with. No, AR is going to become commonplace in exactly this way, in controlled environments.

This is an overly simplified system, but there’s no reason looking at a page would limit you to links. It could immediately pull up animations, video content, and audio track narrating the shoot, etc - while keeping a tactile object that responds to multiple types of interaction (not just finger-on-glass), and that isn’t limited by the dimensions of a smartphone screen.

A QR code fails because it’s a voluntary interruption model - that is to say, it requires too many barriers, first one needs to see the page the code is listed on, then they need to care about the code, then they need to have an application to scan it, then they need to do the actual scanning, then the page needs to load.

An AR model goes “This magazine has an augmented mobile experience. Open this app to see all the extra content on each page” and leads into an ongoing experience, one that can very easily add value. There’s not a series of decisions. There’s a series of discoveries.

Do I want HUD style AR? Of course I do, I grew up reading science fiction. But do I think that we’re going to head directly there? No. It will first be applications like the one above. After that, retail applications (point your phone at any item for sale in our store, we’ll recognize it and serve you unbiased reviews, pricing info, and further details, as well as the ability to purchase via mobile, and pick it up at the door on your way out). After retail applications, expect it to graduate to wikipedia / serendipitous search (point at something, we tell you what it is. Without asking or clicking. Just hold the crosshairs on one item for too long, and image recognition does the rest).

But it starts here. With a removal of the ‘take a picture and see what happens step’, and its replacement with continuous passive content offerings, layered on top of the everyday world.