Disqus
Probably the single most interesting startup (as far as I’m concerned) from the first round is Layar. Under the tagline “Browse the world,” Layar is offering the augmented reality service to deliver great location-aware experience to the end user. We’ve seen a demo showcasing application running on the Android device enabling users to look at something, point their phone, and see balls on the screen representing various offerings nearby. And when you click on any of the balls, you get additional information about it. For instance, they talked about finding jobs, real estates for sale and rent, local businesses and so on.
At the moment, Layar is available as a free application in the Netherlands and it works with Android phones, only. More countries are planed for the future and the same goes for more devices being supported, though every one of them needs to have a built-in magnetometer (compass). In that sense, we won’t see it on the iPhone 3G but on the 3GS.
Finally, it’s important to add that Layar plans to add more content partners in the near future. They mentioned anwb for camping information, Twitter (local Tweets), and Google Local Search.
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
