Smartphone apps – particularly for Android and iPhone – are the darlings of agency and marketer’s interactive marketing initiatives. I won’t go into a long list of why developing only for the Android and iPhone platforms is limiting the reach of your mobile initiative and will just let the graphic below speak for itself. By eyeballing the graphic, Android and iPhone subscribers equate to about 30 million U.S. mobile users. That’s leaving behind 262.8 million U.S. mobile users (approx. 90%) who won’t be able to view your shiny new smartphone app…via Engadget.
I recently created an op-ed for Adage called CES 2011: Welcome To The Year of Tablets and Digital Living Rooms which you can view here. This is a preview of what to expect at CES and how marketers might be able to leverage certain technologies unveiled at the annual electronics show. You can also read on below…
CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2011 is almost upon us and like all gadget-obsessed technorati, half the excitement of an upcoming CES is trying to guess what new innovations will be unveiled to the public. CES 2010 appeared to be the year of 3-D televisions (fueled by the success of “Avatar” and other popular 3-D films) but adoption by consumers has been lukewarm at best. As Financial Times reports, price and need for 3-D glasses has made many consumers hesitant to purchase last year’s next big thing.
So with CES 2011 just weeks away, what can marketers start preparing for? My guess: tablets and connected TV sets.
Tablets
The iPad has been a runaway hit for Apple and helped create a new electronics segment sitting squarely in between laptops and netbooks. With Samsung also jumping into the tablet market with the Galaxy Tab, anticipation is high for other Windows 7-, Android- and Linux-based tablets from the likes of Dell, HP and others. So though we can expect tablets to soon be their own category, what does this mean for marketers? For one, it will continue to provide a fragmented market when it comes to campaign development. Apple refuses to support Flash, while Google (with their Android operation system) has been a huge supporter — even going so far as to integrate Flash into the Chrome browser. Then you also have the app vs. mobile web issue to take into account, which leads to greater fragmentation and cost to a marketer.
In addition, though the tablet market is technically more akin to the smartphone than the laptop, there will be mobile marketing-based opportunities for marketers targeting the “always on the grid” mobile consumer. Augmented Reality is one area that can benefit from the larger display screen and processing power of a tablet. LBS will also likely mature to provide more beneficial services for consumers outside of becoming a mayor of a restaurant.
And finally, Skype has already stole some pre-CES thunder by releasing its mobile video chat application for the iOS — iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and the iPad. Though Apple made an initial splash with its FaceTime mobile video chat app, it’s hard to see Apple, or anybody for that matter, denting the Skype armor considering the market share Skype has already amassed. And this market share is interoperable and across mobile, web and even the digital living room via connected TV sets. Skype, like it or not, will become synonymous with video chat just as Google was synonymous with search.
Connected TVs
The battle for the digital living room has been ongoing for a while and it’s now finally made it to the mainstream. This year it appears that connected sets and peripherals (i.e. set-top boxes) will be the big bet this year from OEM’s. With more than 200 apps in their store and 1 million app downloads, Samsung has both taken a leadership position in this space and helped validate the market. Though Google has also thrown its hat into the ring with its own Logitech-based set top box and Sony-based TV, they also have had a few problems to date. ReelSEO has a good rundown here. With Apple also selling 1 million units of their Apple TV in 2010 alone, it does appear that the consumer is finally ready for internet connectivity in the living room.
What again does this mean for the marketer? For starters, there is a shift happening from the desktop PC to the connected TV for consumers. The connected-TV environment will not only increase the expectation for interactivity with content but usher out the “passive” viewing experience. If you ever watch ESPN “SportsCenter” and notice the interactivity both on the left and bottom of the screen, this will likely be the future of how we view content in this connected format. Apps will allow for even more interactivity and contextual integration fundamentally changing how marketers will need to interact with viewers.
Though there are likely to be other cool gadgets on display, there’s one other technology that I hope will make an appearance — Kinect. Microsoft’s motion gaming device has been a blockbuster so far with 5 million units sold over the last few months. Though this has created an evolution in gaming, it’s providing a revolution in how people interact with digital information via the Natural User Interface (NUI). Just as consumers were getting used to touchscreen displays, we now have another shift to motion-based interaction and gestural control. If you have the time, it’s worth checking out the Kinect Hacks site to see how “hackers” are using the Kinect technology to create mind-blowing examples of everything from Predator type “cloaking” to the Minority Report navigation system.
Since we were founded in 2001, Zugara has always focused on emerging media and technology in the Interactive Marketing and Advertising industries. Throughout those years, we continually developed initiatives and innovations in some of our core areas of expertise – social media, web, interactive video and mobile. However, in 2008, it became apparent that the digital ecosystem was continuing to fragment and that it was getting increasingly difficult to try and be a “Jack of All Trades, Master of None”. We firmly believe that as these 4 core areas (mobile, web, video and social) continue to fragment at an ever increasing speed, it’s best to focus on one core area – and that area for us is Augmented Reality.
It was not easy getting here and I want to personally thank all past and present employees of Zugara for helping to make this happen. We still have a long way to go but without the help from just about everybody involved in Zugara’s world throughout the years, we would not have made it this far. It’s hard enough running a business in good times, but restructuring and ‘rebooting’ during a recession has been probably the most formidable task Zugara has taken on in it’s past 9 years.
But now we look towards the future – and that future is Augmented Reality. AR became the first technology I’ve ever seen resonate deeply with our entire group and for the last 2 years we’ve focused almost entirely on creating innovative software, executions and concepts in this field to help show others how we see AR as an integral part of everybody’s future.
With all that said, I hope you take a moment to check out our new site. The new site has a much clearer focus on what our new goal as a company is and what we now offer – Augmented Reality Software. Our flagship product continues to be The Webcam Social Shopper – Augmented Reality E-Commerce Software – that will continue to evolve the e-commerce experience for the consumer. We are also launching quite a few ZugMO Motion Capture based games and kiosk-based AR executions over the next few months, so please check the site (or our blog) to see how these areas in particular will continue to grow as people become more accustomed to the NUI (Natural User Interface and gestural interaction).
In final, I want to thank again everybody for their support of Zugara over the last few years and look forward to an exciting (and augmented) future!
But like every great NEXT BIG THING, there’s a reality check that needs to happen. Kotaku has a great annotated video outlining what’s real in Kinect vs. what was part of the infamous June 2009 concept video launch. It’s interesting to watch to see what’s real and what’s still in store for the future. You can view the video here. On a side note, if you’re interested to see how people are ‘hacking’ Kinect, there’s a great site to check out called Kinect Hacks.
*Augmented Reality Shopping is not available on Kinect, but is available on Zugara.com
People often tend to think of Augmented Reality as a visual sense, but other senses can be augmented as well. There was the Smell Enhanced Augmented Reality headset and now there’s a way to augment what you hear as well.
iFilm has a great article on a fascinating iPhone app called RjDJ that augments sound around you into interactive music. Christopher Nolan (director of Inception, Dark Knight, Memento) is also involved with this in regards to an augmented version of the Inception score. Check out the embedded video below to get a sense of how an augmented sense of hearing can make your daily commute much more enjoyable…
SPOILER ALERT!!!! (Bonus Video and text below refers to the movie Inception – DO NOT READ if you have not seen the movie yet…)
Bonus clip – If you’re a fan of Inception, you might have caught on to how music in that film is augmented in a way as the team goes deeper into each dream level. As time slowed down, so too did the music to ‘wake up’ people. Didn’t catch this upon first view and just adds another layer to a great film…
Simply amazing. People upload a picture from their webcam which is then inserted into the music video in real-time. Great use of interactivity and shows the skyrocketing adoption of webcams by younger generations. (via Gawker)
I contributed an OpEd on AdAge today on the upcoming battle defining virtual property rights in an Augmented World. This is one area to keep an eye on as we get closer to a world where certain legal and ownership rights for physical presences has yet to be defined. I included the OpEd in this blog entry so feel free to comment on AdAge here or below…
Picture this scenario coming soon to a future near you: You are out and about looking for something to eat. As you walk along a row of restaurants, you decide to put on your augmented reality glasses to see ratings, a video greeting from the restaurant owner and interactive displays of their daily specials. However, as you look closer at the restaurant, you notice a virtual advertisement and coupon from a competing restaurant just a few blocks away. Touching the advertisement, you’re then given animated directions to the establishment, the virtual coupon and video recommendations from the competing chef. Your decision on where to eat has just been made for you.
Sound like science fiction? Not really. As augmented reality and location-based services continue to evolve, companies will need to start thinking about their ownership rights in virtual space.
Right now, the technology exists to tag virtual information onto a physical location in a very basic form. You can use an augmented reality mobile application such as Tagwhat that knows your general location (based on GPS) and you can access consumer generated information (videos, images, etc.) specific to that area. But as the U.S. government launches its next-generation GPS system, we’re looking at future GPS accuracy that will be “less than a meter”. The only question remaining will be if the government will allow this type of precision for civilian use and subsequently, new location-based systems.
Nothing right now is preventing companies from delivering virtual advertisements on a physical competitors’ presence. Physical presence is defined by square footage and boundaries of your building and other rights that might be granted to you property-wise. But where do rights to your space begin and end in an augmented world?
Geofencing is one step in the right direction as it allows for a virtual boundary for your physical location. This would allow you to potentially defend competitors from digitally tagging your physical property based on current laws, but what about 50 feet above your property? We tend to think of physical boundaries on an X and Y plane but where does your space end on a Z plane? How will public virtual space be defined and monetized as well?
Pillsbury Law Firm has recently started a division that is specifically setup to help define law in virtual and augmented space. James Gatto, leader of Pillsbury’s Virtual Worlds & Video Game Team, has been working with clients to help protect them from the potential issues mentioned above. “In emerging fields like virtual worlds and augmented reality, it is important to understand the unique legal issues these new technologies can represent. Real world laws will need to be redefined to bring order out of the potential chaos an augmented or virtual world will usher in for unprepared companies.”
A recent exhibit at MoMA in New York allowed people to view augmented art works via a layer app on their smartphones. Though not seen by the naked eye, these virtual works of art could be seen in an Augmented View in the exhibition space. You might also recall a recent battle between Audi and BMW through the use of physical billboards across from each other.
Imagine how this advertising battle could escalate in an augmented world with virtual ads targeted to specific customers. It’s important for companies to start thinking about all of this now because an augmented world is closer to becoming a reality than many of us are prepared for.
We Are Organized Chaos (WAOC) is Zugara’s (www.zugara.com) interactive marketing and advertising blog where we’ll be featuring some great projects and discussing upcoming trends in the digital world. Work — good and bad — will be critiqued. Hope you’ll enjoy reading our insights and thoughts on interactive.
