So what exactly is augmented reality? It is a technology that overlays (or augments) digital images onto a person’s view of the world, merging one’s physical reality with a digital imagination. In the case of “Pokemon Go,” the app utilizes gamers’ real-world locations to make Pokemon characters appear on their smartphone screens at different places.
Though they sound similar, AR fundamentally differs from virtual reality, which completely immerses users in computer-generated worlds via a VR headset, transporting them out of the real world and into the virtual.
Until recently, it was mostly VR that had been widely touted as the core technology of the future, including in Korea. The explosive popularity of “Pokemon Go,” however, suggests that AR’s interactive characteristic makes it a more promising technology that may have wider mainstream appeal than VR could ever achieve.
“AR has been garnering the new spotlight as it allows users to interact with diverse aspects of the physical world in various ways (unlike VR, which diverts users from their reality),” Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute said in a report released in February 2016.
“Whereas VR isolates users from the real world, AR merges the real world with virtual imagery to offer information rooted in reality. Given such real-life links, AR has potential for wider applications in fields including advertising, tourism, medical services, manufacturing, games and more,” ETRI said.
Given their inherent differences, the AR consumer market is forecast to hit $90 billion by 2020 while the VR consumer market will reach $30 billion by then, according to Digi-Capital, an AR and VR M&A advisor. It predicts the scale of the AR industry will surpass that of VR by 2019.
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20160729000569
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