Augmented Reality

As the mobile device market becomes concentrated, technology firms have begun exploring options to generate revenue for the future, including the potential of wearable technology and augmented reality.

When you take hand-held devices and connect them to a body, whether as a wrist-watch or a headset, it follows that developments can be made to improve the interactivity of a device. While Apple and Samsung are both rumored to be creating a smart watch, Google Glass is one of the most high-profile examples of taking interactivity beyond a screen through projection.

The next step? Perhaps augmented reality, as explored by Investor's Business Daily. Augmented reality is the idea of enhancing one's environment virtually by the use of mobile devices, headgear or glasses -- a reasonable step beyond mobile applications and on-the-go Internet connectivity.

Research and development into augmented reality for the consumer and business space has only just begun, but firms including HP, Qualcomm, Canon and Google are wiling to enter the game. HP and Qualcomm are developing image-recognition software suitable for mobile devices to improve marketing campaigns. Canon has created an augmented reality platform mounted on the head which projects virtual images on to real environments through digital cameras near each eye socket, and although Google Glass was not built with augmented reality specifically in mind, developers are exploring the concept before the launch of the headset later this year.

Audi, Disney and Leap have already developed applications using augmented reality technology, and the trend is likely to continue.

Other companies are also exploring the possibility of a market which could be worth billions in the future. For example, Infinity AR has opened a research and development center in Tel Aviv University with the hope of developing an augmented reality platform with digital eyewear, smartphones and tablets.