The Wall Street Journal recently published an article entitled, “Augmented Reality Finally Starts To Gain Traction” (Log In required). I would go a bit further and say that AR is ready to take off. The article is a great read on recent traction of AR on mobile devices, in the automotive segment, and even in the virtual dressing room space.  AR itself has had an interesting journey as it quickly went from a powerful, new visionary technology to overhyped status in an incredibly short time.  Some of this was due to the AR industry itself pushing conceptual videos of AR tech that didn’t match AR’s past technology limitations.  However, most of the overhype was due to marketers rushing out AR initiatives that weren’t very useful to consumers.

If you follow Gartner’s Emerging Technology Hype Cycle report every year, AR has pretty much tracked to their projections.  In 2013, AR was headed down the ‘trough of disillusionment’ and in 2014-2015, AR seems to be primed for a quick acceleration up the ‘slope of enlightenment’.  This quick acceleration will be due to advancements with Google Glass, next generation Kinect devices and other hardware advancements that can now power more visionary AR software.  The AR industry itself has also matured, so I think there will be more discipline from AR companies to focus on more sustained engagement and conversion opportunities with AR technology.

Though the last 5 years have provided more than a few quick starts and abrupt halts for AR technology, there has never been a better time to be in the AR space than today…