Augmented reality is getting adopted by a growing number of companies which either integrate AR features into their iPhone and Android apps or make layers/channels for the two popular AR browsers – Layar and junaio. That said, we weren’t surprised to learn that Juniper Research predicts augmented reality elements within mobile applications will lead to nearly 1.4 billion annual downloads of such apps worldwide by 2015, up from just over 11 million last year.
The research company goes on arguing that although the first wave of AR-enabled apps were location-based search apps and browsers, now we have the same capability incorporated in games, social networking, education, lifestyle and personal healthcare apps.
Some other findings from the Mobile Augmented Reality report include:
- Annual revenues generated by mobile AR applications and services are expected to approach $1.5 billion by 2015, up from less than $2 million in 2010.
- Enterprise apps with AR elements will account for the third-largest proportion of revenues by 2015, after location-based search and games.
- Governments and mobile content regulators may need to revise or update existing regulations pertaining to privacy, libel and copyright to take AR applications into account.
And you can get additional information from Juniper’s website.