Up to now, commercial uses of augmented reality (AR) have been mostly about trying on clothes in a shop and seeing how they would look on your body, or tourist-oriented apps that give more information about surroundings or directions on how to get somewhere. Many of these uses of AR have been prototypes using powerful desktop computers, not mobile devices.
Fast Company’s “Co.Design” daily newsletter recently highlighted a new mobile app from IKEA that may point the way forward for new commercial apps using AR – seeing how various pieces of furniture from their catalog would look in your home or office, or even on the roof!
An app like this has obvious application for architects and designers, but also for reconstructing crime scenes or teaching history. While this is a custom app for IKEA, a mobile learning tool using the same principles, with lots of virtual objects, will surely be along soon.
Watch for catalogs to use more augmented reality in the near future, including animations that can be superimposed on a scene that shows how things work.
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[…] and decor would look in their homes before making a purchase. The idea is similar to an app Ikea released several years […]
[…] The beauty of AR is its inherent ability to extend beyond what actually is and visually depict what could be. This gives app developers endless new opportunities to engage consumers in a plethora of conceptual possibilities, illustrating stories that intermingle and interact with the environment around us. For example, an application developed by IKEA a few years back allowed customers to visualize how specific furniture pieces would look in their space. […]
[…] The beauty of AR is its inherent ability to extend beyond what actually is and visually depict what could be. This gives app developers endless new opportunities to engage consumers in a plethora of conceptual possibilities, illustrating stories that intermingle and interact with the environment around us. For example, an application developed by IKEA a few years back allowed customers to visualize how specific furniture pieces would look in their space. […]