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The Next Generation Of iPhone Will Support Augmented Reality - Is Retail Ready?

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Since the early days of e-commerce, one of the major challenges has been recreating the ‘touch and feel’ experience in the online world. We have come a long way from selling hard goods like books and electronics online, to soft goods like apparel and accessories. Yet, it feels like we are not there yet, but fortunately, we are now on the precipice of fundamentally changing the way consumers shop via their smartphones and tablets. Using a powerful technology known as augmented reality, consumers can now "touch" - or at least realistically visualize in 3D - products in real life environments without leaving the comfort of their home.

While the term "augmented reality," or AR, sounds futuristic, this complex, fun and incredibly practical technology is simply the integration of digital information with the user's real environment in real-time. Unlike "virtual reality," which creates an entirely artificial environment, AR overlays new information onto a real life scenario. The growth potential in these markets, specifically as it relates to retail, is huge. IDC estimates that the virtual and augmented reality markets will explode from $5.2 billion in 2015 to $162 billion in 2020.

While AR has been around for many years - for instance, the yellow line indicating a first down in televised football games - the uses of AR have been extremely limited, and the technology hasn't been readily available to consumers.

Fortunately, this is changing - fast. Niantic's release of Pokémon Go last July proved just how thirsty consumers are for technology that marries the virtual with the real and the big tech players have fully committed to AR. Google has a team dedicated solely to the advancement of augmented reality including solutions that let shoppers see what they might buy without leaving the comfort of their home. Over the past four months, two AR-enabled smartphones have been released to run Google's Tango AR technology.

In fact, Apple CEO Tim Cook has also touted the importance of AR stating “I regard it [augmented reality] as a big idea like the smartphone. The smartphone is for everyone, we don't have to think the iPhone is about a certain demographic, or country or vertical market: it’s for everyone. I think AR is that big, it’s huge. I get excited because of the things that could be done that could improve a lot of lives." In recent years, Apple has also made strides to invest in AR with its acquisition of Volkswagen offshoot - Metaio.

Credit: Zapp2Photo (Shutterstock)

AR - The New Powerful Tool in Retail

While the majority of apps available today use AR for games, there are numerous ways in which AR can enhance the shopping experience. Imagine you're shopping for a sofa. You take the dimensions of your room, go online to a furniture retailer, and sort through the various color, size and style options. You find one that you think you like - one you think will fit in your space and that you hope will look good - and you complete your purchase. Only after delivery do you find out if that particular item looks good and fits well in your room.

Now let's reimagine this same scenario using AR. Using 3D tools inherent in your phone or tablet, you simply capture a 3D image of your room. Home furnishing retailers can invest in 3D scanning to improve the visualization of products to create the ‘realest’ shopping experience for customers. With smartphone AR, Wayfair takes this one step further. By using Google’s Tango technology, WayfairView allows shoppers to visualize furniture and decor in their homes and place their preferred sofa in a 3D virtual representation of the shopper's actual room. No more guess work required - - you will actually see how that sofa will look in your living room. Want to see how that sofa looks slightly angled or on a different side of the room? No problem - just click and drag. The guessing has been replaced with knowing. You can now confidently make your purchase and know exactly how that sofa will look in your room before it gets delivered. This is not only an advantage for consumers, but for retailers, with AR drastically reducing the need for customer returns.

While this is one use case in home furnishings, AR has practical applications in numerous other retail sectors. Imagine seeing how apparel, makeup, accessories, garden supplies or even cars will look on you or in your space before you commit to purchase online or venture in store? In fact, Google just signed a deal with BMW that realistically superimposes vehicles in a customer's actual driveway or garage. Taking away the unknown can be a significant boost to retailers' e-commerce business as it encourages consumers to shop more from their mobile phones and tablets and reduces the need to travel to a store or wait for delivery to actually see a product in its intended space.

So what has to happen for AR to become sticky and the de facto technology for online shoppers and retailers? It's actually quite simple.

Credit: elenabsl (Shutterstock)

1. New Phones with New Hardware

To fully implement augmented reality technology, mobile phones must have depth sensors. Two Android phones are already shipping - the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro and the Asus ZenFone AR. I have tested the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro first hand and it looks realistic and visually stunning. For iOS users, the next generation of iPhones will likely come equipped with these 3D sensors.

2. 3D Online Catalogs

While online catalog images are currently in two dimensions, images used in augmented reality will need to be reshot in three dimensions. Images of products will have to be taken from all angles to provide the realistic representation that makes AR so effective.

3. Native Apps with AR Functionality

To offer this enhanced AR functionality, retailers must offer their customers a powerful, AR-equipped native app. Shoppers won't find this AR functionality when accessing a retailer's website through a mobile browser. Native apps harness the power of the smartphone, including hardware, software, depth sensors, and camera, to run the AR technology that offers the realistic visualization that is the hallmark of augmented reality.

It's that simple. The technology exists. AR phones are already being shipped. Customers want it. Retailers need it. Augmented reality is the next big thing in e-commerce.

Much like GPS changed the utility of mobile phones and spawned innumerable apps upon which we have all become so reliant, augmented reality will have the same profound impact on the nearly seven billion cell phone users around the world. Phones and tablets are now able to use augmented reality to offer users enhanced, interactive and realistic gaming, shopping and lifestyle visualization and functionality. These augmented reality features, once considered futuristic and out-of-reach, are not only possible - they are available. Augmented reality is now a reality.