A solution looking for a problem? AR is half a thought

I was in a proposal pitch meeting last week where an innovator was trying to sell their new Augmented Reality technology. From the video, they showed it all looked very cool but one thing struck me…well, two things. First, I did think it looked cool, but it was a sales meeting so having your product look cool is standard. Let’s face it, if your product doesn’t look cool while you’re selling, you won’t be selling for very long.

 

The second thing that struck me was that the features of AR that they were selling were not business processes that needed improving. I couldn’t grasp the value.  In business, there are two types of innovations, those that solve a problem and those in search of a problem to solve. In this particular case, it was a solution looking for a problem. The reason for this is that the gentlemen in question were presenting AR as a sales tool. They were proposing that we could walk into a sales meeting and dazzle the people with our AR features that we could build into our sales packs. Here’s the thing, the problem is that AR isn’t designed like that. At least not yet.

 

We’ve seen in movies is the ability to see, manipulate, and change images within our reality. This looks easy and efficient in the movies, but the reality of the situation is quite different. Don’t get me wrong, it looks totally cool, the problem is that it doesn’t work like that. Augmented Reality, for those of you who have not experienced it yet, is using devices to view the real world with digital elements overlaid on top of it.

Think of it this way. before you would go into an empty apartment and only see the empty apartment. Now with AR we can look through the AR app and overlay furniture, light fixtures and decorating in the empty space. Depending on how good the AR app is, you may even be able to walk around the apartment in question and the furniture you placed would stay where it is. This allows you to see different angles and make sure that it looks good. A great example of this is this Ikea YouTube video which shows a daily using the AR features of the IKEA Catalog to furnish their house.

There is also a strong case to be made for AR Games. The advent of Pokemon Go, which was the first of the major AR games to come out, is evidence of that. I’m sure that in the future we will be seeing a flood of adventure games that you can play around your house. The characters in these games will be able to interact with the actual environment you’re in to do the tasks in the game.

 

My main issue with AR is this, it requires you to have the app to get the full experience. When you already have the app getting the full AR experience with a product can be pretty cool. This is why the technology will be good for games or as with the IKEA example, ways for you to find where your furniture should go. As a sales tool, it could be a little awkward to ask people to download your app to see the awesome things you want them to buy.

 

I”m a big fan of AR and the possibilities that are coming in its future. While AR has found an initial home in the gaming world I look forward to how it can be applied in the business world. The trick, will be seeing how integrated we can embed AR technology into our every day’s lives. one of the major pitfalls that AR experiences that I see are that from an Innovator to consumer point of view, the consumer still needs the App. Innovators can work to solve problems that they think need solving or work on cool ideas to change how we work and live. If it’s not solving a problem then what’s the point? For sure once we are able to walk into stores or convention centres and see digital images in 3D or holographic it will be super cool. I have no doubt that this will be attainable one day. With the Smart Glasses movement on a resurgence and AR definitely becoming more and more popular. For the moment, but, It’s not yet J.A.R.V.I.S. from Ironman.