Business applications are likely to be the real drivers for growth in augmented reality (AR) and wearable devices over the next five years rather than the consumer technology attracting all the current hype, a new report from Beecham Research suggests.
The report points to manufacturing, logistics, healthcare and retail as some of the most dynamic markets, where AR offers a new way for people to interact with information hands-free, to provide a greater depth of control and access to knowledge.
The report entitled, ‘Augmented Reality and Wearable Technology – an operational tool for the enterprise’, also highlights recent acquisitions that reflect a growing level of market activity and consolidation.
This includes PTC’s purchase of Vuforia at the end of last year for $65 million to support its next generation of technology solutions for manufacturers and follows acquisitions of IoT companies ThingWorx and Axeda. Other acquisitions in 2015 included Apple’s purchase of Metaio, borne out of a project at Volkswagen and Facebook’s purchase of AR company Surreal Vision.
“It is clear that the overall status of the enterprise market for AR and wearable technology is at a tipping point, moving from trials and testbed projects to real commercial deployments,” said Matthew Duke-Woolley, market analyst at Beecham Research and author of the report.
“While it is still questionable to provide a firm forecast, if this speed of transition accelerates as companies quickly recognise the benefits and
