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Infographic: Augmented Reality Landscape Q1 and Q2 2019

posted in: Infographic, Tech Trends, VR Tech

Seven Key Facts about AR.

The Venture Reality Fund , which invests primarily in immersive applications and games, has just released its latest quarterly update covering Q1 and Q2 of 2019.

Mobile AR 2.0 is coming Click To Tweet
Key Takeaways include:

1. AR is Growing. Augmented Reality is hot. The Venture Reality Fund now tracks more than 380 companies on the AR landscape, a 33% increase from 2018.

The US Army’s $479M contract with Microsoft Hololens in late 2018 is the biggest validation of enterprise value of AR Click To Tweet

2. HMD (head mounted display) AR is in a Transition Phase. We’re seeing a transition from first gen to current, which also has precipitated early players like Daqri and ODG to shut down and Meta be resurrected as MetaView.

The Venture Reality Fund now tracks more than 380 companies on the AR landscape, a 33% increase from 2018 Click To Tweet

Current gen AR companies like MagicLeap and RealWear continue to be funded and Microsoft is about to release Version 2 of Hololens, which we believe will have a big impact in further AR enterprise adoption.

HMD (head mounted display) AR is in a Transition Phase Click To Tweet

For consumers, we are seeing launches of specialized hardware, like North’s Focals smart glasses, Form’s ARswimming goggles or BOSE AR’s audio-only sunglasses.

Neither Microsoft, Magic Leap nor others have announced when their consumer versions will be available. General purpose HMD AR devices are still a year or two away.

3. Enterprise Continues Growth Trajectory: For software, the main growth is in enterprise solutions and content creation tools across multiple sectors, including automotive, pharmaceutical, and healthcare, among others. The US Army’s $479M contract with Microsoft Hololens in late 2018 is the biggest validation of enterprise value of AR.

4. AR needs a new type of content. The tools category saw expansion of general purpose tools and for new content forms – specifically volumetric capture. The increased interest in volumetric capture content, which works for both AR and VR, is partially driven by 5G networks capabilities.

Neither Microsoft, Magic Leap nor others have announced when their consumer versions will be available Click To Tweet

5. Consumer AR Content Alive and Well. Consumer AR fun continues to grow, mostly on mobile devices. Games are a big hit, such as Niantic’s Pokemon Go and Harry Potter Wizards UniteTencent’s Let’s Hunt Monsters in China, and the upcoming Minecraft Earth.  And, of course, social hilarity from apps like Snap are growing, giving company’s install base a boost.

AR is still in early days, but with HMD AR and mobile AR platforms evolution robust ecosystems are building worthy of investment Click To Tweet

6. Mobile AR 2.0 is coming. With next-gen AR Cloud-enabled SDKs due year end, we’ll see even richer interactions, persistence, global mapping, and multi-user features, all of which will result in a significant uptick in the mobile AR ecosystem.

The increased interest in volumetric capture content, which works for both AR and VR, is partially driven by 5G networks capabilities Click To Tweet

7. Investments Will Continue. AR is still in early days, but with HMD AR and mobile AR platforms evolution robust ecosystems are building and worthy of continued investment. Overall, AR’s future is bright as we enter a new phase of its growth cycle.

Consumer AR Content Alive and Well Click To Tweet