An intrinsic outline of augmented reality market in terms of the competitive spectrum: escalating scope of digitization and software technologies to heavily impact the industry growth
Publisher : Fractovia | Published Date : 2017-03-31Request Sample
An elemental realm of the smart technology space, augmented reality market has, in recent times, emerged to be an extensively deep-rooted niche vertical, the expansive growth of which can be unquestionably credited to the heavy applications that AR finds across myriad businesses such as retail, medical, aerospace, automotive, and most influentially, the gaming zone. The extensive deployment of AR in games is coherently vivid from the massive popularity that gaming products enjoy among a tech-savvy consumer base. For instance, recently, internet tabloids were ablaze with the news that Pokémon Go has received a major AR makeover. That is to say, the existing AR feature on the game has been sufficiently updated so as to retain the phone’s battery life – all due to the ARKit framework embedded in the iOS 11. This incidence validates the fact leading tech magnates partaking in augmented reality market have been going the whole nine yards to explore and innovate as many exceptional AR products in order to expand the application landscape of this business space.
U.S. AR market size, by application, 2016 & 2024 ($Mn)
It is prudent to mention that the competitive hierarchy of augmented reality industry is rather fragmented, and is intricately characterized by the presence of established biggies as well as a substantially huge number of smaller participants such as software developers, content providers, platform providers, and hardware device manufacturers. It has been observed that tech giants have been acquiring smaller players and start-ups to make themselves fully-functional and independently operational for gradually consolidating their position in augmented reality market, considering the widespread scope of AR for viewing the real world with technologically developed imagery. The end-user spectrum dynamics for AR, as is witnessed, is rather far-flung and comprehensive. Say for instance, recently, Japan-based Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) signed a pact with the MOL Techno-Trade and Furono Electric to combinedly come up with an AR-incorporated system that would support vessel operations during voyages, providing enhanced visual information about other ships, landmarks, and obstacles at sea, on tablets and other digital devices. If proved successful, the system would indeed bring about a transformational change in augmented reality industry outlook from the industrial domain, as per experts. Speaking along similar lines, a succinct gist about three pivotal augmented reality market companies and their contributions toward propelling the revenue graph of this business space has been outlined below.
Google, Inc.
One of the most proactive tech giants across the globe, Google has comfortably carved its space in augmented reality industry. Merely a month earlier, the company had claimed that AR tech is here to stay - as per the company’s claims, close to 100 million devices will be equipped with AR by the end of Q4 2017, while a tentative ‘hundreds of millions’ of devices would be incorporated with AR by 2018 end. Affirming its substantially huge claims, the tech behemoth has recently launched its own AR stickers on the Pixel and Pixel 2. The novel AR tech used in these stickers will also be effectively launched with the branded stickers of Stranger Things and Star Wars, further popularizing the commercialization potential of U.S. augmented reality market.
Earlier this year, Google marked pivotal significance in augmented reality industry with the launch of the ARCore in August – a direct competition to Apple’s ARkit. Having sufficiently dabbled in AR tech, in the future, Google is likely to make an extensive contribution toward the overall augmented reality market.
Magic Leap
One of most prominent players of augmented reality industry, this Florida headquartered company recently announced that it plans to launch AR headsets and googles, that are likely to pose stiff competition to other participants in augmented reality market. Magic Leap’s goggles are apparently oversized cyberpunk-y goggles, with an external computer – the Lightpack, and a handheld controller that is designed to accept gestures, sounds, and head poses. Despite stiff competition, Magic Leap’s products have been projected to gain mass popularity in augmented reality industry post their official launch.
Apple
Apple’s contribution toward augmented reality market, similar to its regional rivals, has been extremely commendable. While product innovations have remained a key strategy of the tech giant, as proved by the recent launch of the AR-enabled Pokémon, in 2017, Apple seems to have taken to acquiring other players in augmented reality industry to consolidate its position in the business. For instance, Apple recently invested around USD 390 million in Finisar, the producer of laser scanners used in the iPhone X, in order to increase the individual component production in its AR camera systems. Bearing further testimony to this presumption, is the fact that Apple’s acquisition of Shazam is being touted to strengthen the former’s stance in augmented reality market, given that Shazam launched an AR platform of an extensive scale in March 2017.
The AR technology has been rapidly penetrating myriad verticals, subject to its extraordinary capability of enabling users to glimpse a live direct or indirect view of a real-world scenario, the components of which are enhanced by real-world sensory inputs such as graphics, sounds, and GPS data. In the decades to come, it has been speculated that augmented reality industry trends would observe a consistent transformation of sorts, given the fact that this technology is undoubtedly slated to revolutionize consumer lifestyles by quite some proportion. The latest automobiles for instance, have been incorporated with head-up displays for GPS clearance, AR glasses as virtual navigation beacons, and more. The retail sector isn’t far from heavily adopting AR tech either – recently, Myntra made it to the headlines for its announcement of planning to deploy AR for enhancing its connect with consumers, which would have a considerable impact on augmented reality market outlook from the retail sector. By a large, AR is likely to emerge as a transformative technology in the years ahead, propelling augmented reality industry share. As per a report compiled by Global Market Insights, Inc., augmented reality market size has been estimated to cross USD 50 billion by 2024.
