The AR Roundup: September 2020

Here is what you missed in augmented reality from September 1–30, 2020

Source: Nintendo — Mario Kart Live

Numbers

Forecasts

• IDC estimates a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in AR/VR spending of 76.9% worldwide in 2019–2024 to reach $136.9 billion by 2024. (IDC)
• Technavio has been monitoring the augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) market and it is poised to grow by $ 125.19 billion during 2020–2024, progressing at a CAGR of over 35% during the forecast period. (Businesswire)
• Mobile AR Revenue Projected to Reach $21 Billion by 2024 (ARInsider)

Reported

• Spark AR now has 400,000 creators from 190 countries, who have published over 1.2 million AR effects on Facebook and Instagram. And in just the last three months, more than 150 accounts have seen their effects generate more than 1 billion views. (Facebook)
• On the use of HoloLens at Toyota: “Compared to the traditional workflow that took 200 hours, this approach generated the needed amount of auto-labeled images in just 30 minutes — a 400X improvement in speed.” (Unity)
• “A recent study showed that the average error rate in the placement of the catheter to that position in three-dimensional coordinate space was 2.2 centimeters. That was in spite of using 10 CT scans over the course of of the 2.5 hour procedure. With Surgical AR + HoloLens, we could potentially scan the patient just once and place with millimeter accuracy at a fraction of the time.” (Medivis)
• CWRU is using HoloLens2 to help students score 50% better while learning faster and retaining more knowledge (Twitter)
• K5 Factory reports “more than 1 million unique AR experiences” for its Müller Milchreis WebAR sweepstake promotion (Twitter)
• Shopify states “Interactions with products having 3D/AR content showed a 94% higher conversion rate than for products without AR/3D” (Twitter)
• SketchFab now has over 4 million members (Twitter)

Surveys

• According to a new survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Threekit, 60% of its U.S. adult respondents who shop online are more likely to buy a product if it is shown in 3D or AR. (Furniture Today)
• According to research published in July 2020 by CommerceNext and Exponea, a customer experience company, more than 20% of US retailers expected to invest in AR or VR for their company’s online store in June, up from 8% in January. (eMarketer)

Featured Video: Experiments with AirPods Pro Motion Tracking

Source: Twitter — ConcreteSciFi

Money

Hardware

• Qualcomm-powered Chinese XR startup Nreal raises $40M (TechCrunch)
• Lidar startup Ouster raises $42M in push to grow sales, diversify products (TechCrunch)
• HaptX Secures $1.5M Grant to Build Full-body Haptics (Road to VR)
• Nvidia is acquiring Arm for $40 billion (The Verge)
• Two ex-Apple rock stars have raised $30m to build the next iPhone as part of a startup called Humane (Fast Company)

Platforms & Tools

• Unity sells shares in $1.3 billion U.S. IPO above target range (Reuters)
• TetaVi secures $6M in new funding (Sifted)
• Camera IQ Raises $5M in Additional Series A Funding (FINSMES)

Applications & Solutions

• Oracle Wins Bid for TikTok in U.S., Beating Microsoft (The Wall Street Journal)
• PTC acquires German AR/AI Startup ioxp (PTC)
• Aww raises $1M in Seed Round for virtual influencers (Bloomberg)

Featured Tweet: Diplo’s hologram teleports to virtual Burning Man to play a set in BRCVR

Source: Twitter — Toryn Farr

News

Hardware

Launch Announcements

• Facebook teaming up with Ray-Ban maker for first smart glasses in 2021 (CNBC)
• Facebook announces Project Aria: A Research Project on the Future of Wearable AR (Facebook)
• Vuzix’s designer smart glasses to debut in 2021 (Apple Insider)
• Mobile volumetric capture unit, the Polymotion Stage Truck, unveiled (Broadcast Now)
• Microsoft selects Avatar Dimension for east coast Mixed Reality capture studio (Auganix)
• DigiLens Brings Ultra-Compact CrystalClear AR HUD to Any Auto Dashboard (DigiLens)
• Mercedes-Benz reveals redesigned S-Class luxury car, adding augmented reality windshield, ‘evasive steering’ (USA Today)
• Apple Watch Series 6 features spatial awareness U1 Ultra Wideband chip (MobileSyrup)

Updates

• New AirPods Pro Firmware Introduces Spatial Audio Support and Automatic Switching (MacRumors)
• LG Uplus forms AR, VR alliance with global telcos and Qualcomm (Yonhap News)

Rumors, Patents & Relevant Research

• The iPhone 12 Pro camera will use Sony’s lidar technology (Fast Company)
• Apple Invents Equipment designed to Integrate Electronics into Fabrics for Future Products such as Smart Apple Watch Bands & more (Patently Apple)
• Apple’s biggest manufacturer is building AR glasses of its own (Cult of Mac)
• Scandinavian design studio Swift Creatives publishes Snapchat AR Goggles concept (Design Boom)
• TUAT project reconstructs holographic stills into moving image at 30 frames per second (Optics.org)
• New Facebook research suggests audio will be key to its AR glasses (Protocol)

Platforms & Tools

Launch Announcements

• 8th Wall brings web-ready AR experiences to curved surfaces for bottles and cans (Silicon Angle)
• Facebook debuts “Infinite Office” which gives Quest users a new set of features including seeing “live feeds from the onboard cameras to integrate the VR world with their own home” (TechCrunch)

Updates

• Niantic announces the Niantic Planet-Scale AR Alliance (Niantic)
• Azure Object Anchors is now in private preview (Microsoft)
• Unity rolls out MARS 1.1 and introduces new procedural workflow (Unity)
• Facebook will let creators put their AR effects in Messenger and Portal (The Verge)
• Threekit partners with Google to boost 3D ad function (Furniture Today)
• How to create a WebAR hologram project using 8th Wall and Depthkit Cinema (8th Wall)
• Qualcomm collaborates with Loom.ai to enhance its video conferencing avatar offering with the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2’s advanced AI (Twitter)
• Immersal partners with Nreal to add support for the smartglasses in their upcoming v1.8 SDK release (Twitter)
• eyecandylab selected for Mixed Reality Program by Deutsche Telekom and Nreal (eyecandylab)
• Apple gives developers new App Store marketing tools including QR codes and more (9to5 Mac)
• Build Motion-Capable Alexa Skills for All-new Echo Show 10 (Amazon)

Rumors, Patents & Relevant Research

• Apple developing new 3D spatial audio format for ‘Apple Glass’ and other AR uses (Apple Insider)
• Google releases Instant Motion Tracking, allowing users to ‘pin’ AR objects to real world moving objects in real-time (Auganix)

Featured Creator: Cameron Hunter creates gesture controlled Snap Lens to use during Zoom meetings

Source: Twitter — Cameron Hunter

News

Applications & Solutions

Consumer

• Pac-Man Geo is an augmented reality game from Bandai Namco, now available for pre-registration (Android Police)
• Augmented Reality debuts on Official AFL Live App (AFL)
• USGA, Deloitte Launch 2020 U.S. Open Augmented Reality App (USGA)
• Design And Race Your Own Car With NASCAR Mobile AR Racing (VRScout)
• Snapchat launches Anime Filter (Input)
• NYT, Facebook launch multi-year augmented reality reporting project (Axios)
• Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit Turns Mario Kart Into An AR Game With Real Toys (Kotaku)
• LEGO Harry Potter Diagon Alley Set and AR Experience (Syfy)
• Pinfinity Partners With Star Wars, Marvel, Capcom On AR-Enhanced Pins (VRScout)
• In3D launches iPhone app to let users create their own avatar (Twitter)
• vARa launches alpha Social XR app (Twitter)
• YUR Fit launches FlapFit AR fitness game (Twitter)
• SpatialBliss app launches in App Store to use AirPods new Spatial Audio (Twitter)

Enterprise

• Iristick partners with Aviapartner and Air Cargo Belgium to introduce Smart Glasses technology to air freight industry (Auganix)
• Microsoft teams up with Mercedes-Benz USA to outfit authorized American dealerships with HoloLens 2 (ZDNET)
• To the moon and beyond: How HoloLens 2 is helping build NASA’s Orion spacecraft (Microsoft)
• Medivis innovates surgical procedures using the HoloLens 2 (YouTube)
• Toyota makes mixed reality magic with Unity and Microsoft HoloLens 2 (Unity)
• BMW Uses Augmented Reality In Vehicle Prototyping (AR.Rocks)
• Verizon debuts 5G Internet Gateway with augmented reality self-setup (VentureBeat)
• Public Hospital Trial AR Healthcare Solutions With Vection Technologies (AR.Rocks)
• Rokid rolls out their industry solutions offerings (Rokid)
• Ubimax announces a major release for its AR enterprise productivity platform Frontline (PRNewswire)
• RealWear Announces General Availability of Microsoft Teams for HMT-1 and HMT-1Z1 to Empower Firstline Workers (RealWear)
• EveryPoint app launches to create mesh reconstruction using LiDAR-enabled iPad (Twitter)

Marketing

Social AR

• Ford is using augmented reality to help sell its new Mach-E electric SUV (CNET)
• Burberry partners with Snapchat to create an in-store game experience (Twitter)
• Champs Sports Adds Snapchat AR Try-On Lens to Refresh Your Game Campaign (Adweek)
• Pepsico & PHD launch Twisties Museum with augmented reality experience (Mumbrella)

WebAR

• Khaite AR Augmented Reality Fashion Experience (Vogue)
• Titans unveil mural with Augmented Reality in downtown Nashville (WKRN)
• LA Rams launch WebAR Portal to bring fans to the Rams House (Twitter)
• Web-Based Augmented Reality Used to Enhance Samsung ‘Life Unstoppable’ Virtual Event (PRWeb)
• Google created an Android 11 statue that you can view in AR (The Verge)
• Apple hid an AR Easter egg in its September event announcement (The Verge)
• Explore NBA playoff matchups in augmented reality (Yahoo Sports)
• Explore the NBA Finals in augmented reality (Yahoo Sports)
• Issey Miyake uses WebAR to market the launch of its new fragrance IGO (Twitter)
• LEGO Harry Potter WebAR lets you transform your window into a portal to another realm (Twitter)
• Kinder Create ‘Jump Into Africa’ Safari Experience In WebAR Portal In Tesco Stores (AR.Rocks)
• Tata Tea launch WebAR campaign to market different flavors of tea (Twitter)
• Ghostbusters franchise launches WebAR Haunted candy Hunt (Twitter)
• David’s Bridal is betting on 3D Tech to Get More Brides to Say Yes to the Dress (Forbes)

AR App

• Acura accelerates into AR, cinematic ads with multichannel push for TLX (Marketing Dive)
• 2021 Ram TRX get its own AR app (Muscle Cars and Trucks)
• Barefoot and Black Eyed Peas ‘Band Together’ to Launch Augmented Reality Music Experience with Charitable Component (Vacancy-Mag)

Featured Quote: AR exits Gartners’ Emerging Tech Hype Cycle

“Because this Hype Cycle pulls from such a broad spectrum of topics and is intended to be dynamic, many technologies are featured in a specific year or two, but are not tracked over a longer period of time. This is not intended to imply that they are unimportant — quite the opposite. In some cases, these technologies are no longer “emerging,” but rather are becoming more integral to business and IT. In other cases, technologies that have been highlighted in this Hype Cycle for three years have been removed from the Hype Cycle in order to highlight other new emerging technologies.

Augmented reality — While continuing to be an important technology, augmented reality is rapidly approaching a much more mature state, which moves it off the emerging technology class of innovation profiles.”

(Gartner via SkarredGhost)

Art & Entertainment

• Renowned artist Jenny Holzer to debut project at UChicago using augmented reality (uChicago News)
• Marco Brambilla’s Free “The Four Temperaments” AR App experience stars Cate Blanchett (Cool Hunting)
• Dutch street artist Leon Keer “Shattering” mural comes to life with AR (My ModernMet)
• See Jonathan Yeo’s Studio In Augmented Reality App (AR.Rocks)
• TikTok Potter, Dax Newman, Teams Up With 1RIC Studio To Create Calming Holograms (VRScout)
• The first music video shot on Snap Spectacles 3 is a rumination on love (Engadget)
• Strictly Come Dancing 2020 to feature futuristic ‘augmented reality’ segments (Mirror)
• Digital Transformation, 5G and XR Will Drive Next-Gen Fashion Shows (Huffington Post)
• Nreal collaborates with Xcommon to create an immersive experience for Shanghai Fashion Week (Twitter)

Human Impact & Ethics

• Facebook Reality Labs publishes its principles for building the future (Facebook)
• The XRSI debuts its novel Privacy Framework version 1.0 for XR (XRSI)
• How Microsoft Is Leading A War On Deepfakes (VRScout)
• Amnesty calls for human rights controls on EU digital surveillance exports (TechCrunch)
• Whitney Houston hologram used without permission from estate (NME)

Follow me on Twitter @TomEmrich. Got news to share or have feedback on “The AR Roundup”? Email me at tom@tomemrich.com.