i3 - November/December 2017 - 18

This second attempt at bringing AR mainstream by Google
comes on the heels of Apple's commitment to the technology. In
June, Apple unveiled ARKit, a developer platform that allows
everyone from game makers to tech innovators to blend the real
world with the virtual using existing iPhones and iPads. This
immediately opens the technology up to hundreds of millions of
devices. Apple doubled down on AR with the introduction of its
Apple iPhone 8 and iPhone X, which add advanced cameras and
4K visuals to the mix.
According to Greenlight Insights, the augmented reality industry will grow from $3.6 billion in 2019 to $36 billion by 2023.
In that same time, AR head-mounted displays (HMDs) will grow
from 1.9 million to 30 million units shipped.
Alexis Macklin, analyst at Greenlight Insights, said that
currently 95 percent of all spending on HMDs are made by
commercial buyers. "However, as standalone, consumer HMDs
are introduced and become affordable due to production cost
reductions, we expect consumers to account for an increasing
share of HMD sales," Macklin explains. "In the years 2019 to
2023, consumer spending on AR HMDs is forecasted to grow to
account for 53 percent of all category spending."

Xbox One X will
upgrade the
visual fidelity of
all Xbox One
games through
high dynamic
range (HDR).

CREATING COOL EXPERIENCES

The global marketing to this mass market audience took place during much of 2016, thanks to the phenomenal success of Niantic and
Nintendo's Pokémon GO game on Android and iOS. "We saw some
really interesting hints at AR early on with Pokémon GO and the
possibilities of location-based entertainment, but this is about to go
really big with perfect position tracking in the real world," Tim
Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, explains. "It really sets the stage for
an interesting area of industry growth where we combine mobile
products with immersive 3D graphics and see something that's quite
different than the mobile games dynamic that existed previously."

Will.i.am
Brings Mira
Prism Into
The Concert
Experience
Black Eyed Peas star will.i.am
likes augmented reality so much,
he invested in startup Mira. The
LA-based company is launching
a PRISM HEADSET this fall,
which uses the iPhone to bring
ARKit experiences to life.
Will.i.am was at VR Con during
San Diego Comic Con to talk
about the new technology,
which he believes will be the
next big thing for AR. "Right now,

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017

Pokémon GO is king," will.i.am
said. "In 2018, a thousand
Pokémons are about to freaking
hit the world. Apple's ARKit is
going to change that. Mira Prism
is going to change it all. It's going
to be awesome."
Prism comes with a remote
controller that can double as a
fishing rod, steering wheel or
magic wand in various single
and multiplayer games. Ben

Epic's Unreal Engine 4 technology supports
both ARKit and ARCore, allowing developers to
create experiences that can connect with both
Apple's and Google's install bases. During Apple's
Worldwide Developer Conference in San
Francisco, Peter Jackson's Wingnut Studios
debuted an AR video game that came alive on
a tabletop when viewed through an iPad, offering
a window into the future of interactive entertainment where miniature holographic space ships
and marines come alive.
Taft, co-founder and CEO of
Mira, is working with game
developers like Funktronic Labs,
Big Red Button Entertainment
and Fuzzy Logic to create
a pack-in collection of AR
games designed for Prism.
"There are so many vast
possibilities for AR from education to healthcare to enterprise,
but we wanted to start with
games and fun things for people
to do so they don't have to worry
about the sophisticated nature
of the technology," Taft says.
"There are games where they
can just throw on the headset
and join the experience
with a friend."

Prism also includes
a Spectator Mode, which allows
users to collaborate, explore
and share content in augmented reality. Users can record
video or capture photos of their
friends' AR experience and
share via social media across
iPhones and iPads.
But what got will.i.am hooked
on Prism is the potential it opens
up for the concert experience,
where attendees at Black Eyed
Peas concerts already have
phones recording the experience. For the band's 2018 tour,
he's choreographing AR effects
that will sync with Prism through
ARKit and augment the real-life
music experience.

I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

i3 - November/December 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of i3 - November/December 2017