Nintendo (NTDOY)

[mick]

huge,yuge read/ TECHNOLOGY/ 'Pokemon Go' Fires Starting Gun For Augmented Reality

http://www.investors.com/news/technology/pokemon-go-fires-starting-gun-for-augmented-reality/


The concept of augmented reality has been around for years,
but it took the wildly popular smartphone game "Pokemon Go" to bring it to the public's attention.

The question now is whether "Pokemon Go" will spur AR to the next level, taking it beyond games and into practical applications.

"'Pokemon Go' is hugely helpful in terms of awareness of AR among both consumers and the broader investment community,"
Tim Merel, founder and CEO of Eyetouch Reality and Digi-Capital, told IBD.

"It could have far-reaching repercussions beyond games,
both in terms of what developers do next and where investors focus their attention."

"Pokemon Go" will give augmented reality, aka mixed reality, a jump-start, Merel says.

Augmented reality overlays digital information on what people see
in the real world, where its cousin technology -- virtual reality -- completely blocks out the real world. In the case of
"Pokemon Go," people can see fantasy creatures called Pokemon on
digital maps and through their smartphone camera
-- (which they then capture and can use to battle other Pokemon to gain status, as it were.)

But using smartphones for AR applications can cause problems.
People have been injured playing "Pokemon Go" because they got distracted by having to look down at their smartphones while
walking or driving around looking for Pokemon to capture.

The next step for AR is to move applications to computerized glasses that project digital information into a wearer's field of view.

Nintendo (NTDOY)-backed "Pokemon Go" has already been demonstrated on Microsoft's (MSFT) HoloLens and Vuzix (VUZI) smartglasses.

Other major companies investing in augmented reality technology
include Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOGL)-owned Google, Samsung, Facebook (FB)
and Snapchat. Alphabet spinout Niantic is co-creator of "Pokemon Go."

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"'Pokemon Go' points out how exciting AR can be," Vuzix Chief Executive Paul Travers told IBD.

"That is the tip of an iceberg for how cool this stuff is going to get." Vuzix makes wearable displays used with some AR products.

Beyond games, applications for AR include navigation,
such as pointing you to the closest ATM, and instruction, such as providing step-by-step visual prompts for making household repairs.

And business enterprise applications also are getting closer.

AR To Be Fourth Wave, After PC, Online, Mobile

Experts say augmented reality glasses could be the fourth wave of personal computing, after PC, online and mobile.

"When you can do the Pokemon stuff in a pair of fashion glasses,
it's going to be the next computing platform," Travers said.

AR headsets used in industrial applications today are too geeky
for consumers to wear, he says.

Remember the backlash when people started wearing Google Glass headsets in public?

But people will be surprised how fast AR technology moves from
bulky headsets to consumer products that look like regular sunglasses,
Travers says.

"For the mass market to embrace augmented reality in a wearable, the wearable itself can't look stupid," Travers said.

"You can't look like you're wearing an Oculus Rift (VR headset, from Facebook)."

The killer app for consumer augmented-reality smartglasses likely
will involve navigation, Travers said.

AR glasses will show users directions by painting a virtual dotted
line of the path to follow in front of them.

"You won't go back to a handheld map when you can do that," Travers said.

AR Startup Magic Leap Is A Unicorn

Investment dollars are flowing into development of augmented reality hardware and software.

In the past 12 months, early-stage venture capital funds and corporations have invested $2 billion in AR and VR,
Digi-Capital says. Unlike AR, virtual reality technology blocks out
the real world and creates an entirely digital environment for users
to experience.

In February, augmented reality startup Magic Leap raised
$793.5 million in a funding round that valued the company
at $4.5 billion, far beyond the $1 billion milestone for so-called Unicorn startups.

The funding round was led by China e-commerce leader Alibaba (BABA), with participation from existing investors Alphabet and Qualcomm (QCOM).

Digi-Capital predicts that augmented reality will be a $90 billion market in 2020, including hardware, software and services.

By comparison, it sees VR as a $30 billion market in 2020.

While consumer applications for augmented reality,
such as "Pokemon Go," are now capturing the public's imagination,
the real money is in commercial applications.

One key commercial application for augmented reality is remote assistance, ABI Research says.

In a remote assistance scenario,
a technician wearing an AR headset can get help remotely from an
expert who can see what the worker sees and walk them through a problem.

The computerized glasses have a built-in camera, microphone and speakers so the worker and remote expert can work together.

The remote expert can point and draw in an AR user's field of view to assist them.

ABI Research on Thursday forecast augmented reality use in
enterprises to explode over the next five years.

It predicted shipments of AR smartglasses to hit 27 million units by 2021.

"For 2016, initial tests and low-volume implementations will be
expanded to higher volume investment and rollout,
creating a more
mature and disruptive marketplace for 2017," ABI analyst Eric Abbruzzese said in a statement.

"Devices with more powerful processing and hands-free input methods, such as ODG's R7 and Daqri's Smart Helmet, stand best suited for industrial and health care usage."

ntdoy
Nintendo shares fell 11% in afternoon trading on the stock market today, falling for a fourth straight session. But the stock is still up 63% since Pokemon Go launched.