First iPhone Augmented Reality App Appears Live in App Store
French app development shop PresseLite appears to have the first Augmented Reality (AR) supporting iPhone app live in the iTunes store, though we don't know how they did it. It's called Metro Paris Subway, and while the app isn't new, it released a new version last week that added an AR overlay that displays information about Paris businesses when you look at the city through your iPhone's camera.
Augmented Reality is the term for a long-developed set of technologies that place layers of information on top of a view of the real world. Developers and AR-watchers have believed that no AR apps would be able to go live in the iTunes App Store until the next version of the iPhone OS is released in Fall. No one we've talked to has seen any others, but this one is for sale for 99 cents. It's possible that it was allowed in by mistake, or that it's a partial implementation of AR, but we're waiting to hear back from the developers for more details.
We discovered a video of the app via Swedish blogger Magnus Aldemark. Augmented Reality is being tracked far more closely outside of the United States than within it, especially in Europe, Korea and Japan.
The AR capabilities only work on the new iPhone 3Gs; both GPS and a compass are used to determine location and direction being pointed at.
AR for the iPhone is eagerly awaited by iPhone users around the world. There are several AR apps available for Android handsets already. We wrote at length yesterday about five key obstacles that Augmented Reality faces in becoming mainstream. Its time appears to be coming, though.
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Very cool, can't wait to see more of this.
The are likely using an unauthorized camera view.
There's a Chromeless image picker the iPhoneARKit guys used that made it possible to do image overlays in 3.0, but it was rumored Apple was rejecting the majority of the apps that used it.
I'll bet Apple takes this app down.
Thanks for your comment Tim. I suspect you're right on both counts. Hope not, though :)
Remember Sekai Camera last year from the TechCrunch 50? Same thing, but better. (Japan based)
Jason, that product seems to have dropped off the map. It certainly doesn't seem live in the app store, does it? See Layar on Android, that seems even cooler. Or Wikitude.
Hi Marshall,
Glad you are hitting now on the AR space and thanks for the interview last weekend. This is going to be a HUGE space. You phone becomes both IR viewer and tag marker, plus remote control magic wand.
The gang over at Microvision http://www.microvision.com were working on AR glasses for military applications with direct to cornea laser projection. We see this in war fighter machine vision system and the latest "Military Advertisements on TV".
I believe that AR is where the ad dollars will flow as AR brings time and place offers that are on the fly and measurable via digital signatures. A space on par as hot as social media, perhaps more so for the ad world.
The tools enabling technologies are now coming in place from NVIDIA’s Tegra platform, mobile video cameras, sensors such as GPS and ubiquitous wifi broadband.
http://createdigitalmotion.com/2009/08/21/get-ready-for-handheld-live-visuals/
http://www.zii.com/Developer/SDKProducts.aspx
The question not "if" but "when" as the iPhone and Apple will want to control this space via the App Store and already locks down innovation with their ULA.
I can imagine a day where we have AR911 features in our phone so when shit hits the fan, we have AR features telling us how to get the heck out of town with the big one hits in Seattle and Portland.
Keep rocking on the AR space as this is the future of media.
Best, Tim Reha
Technically the first was Pocket Universe from Craic Design. It uses an opaque overlay of the sky to show you astronomical features. Been available for months too.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=306916838&mt=8
AR apps which do the camera feed are NOT the only sort of AR you can get.
i don't think they'll take it down... we have an app called hideNtweet that does all kinds of messing with the camera interface, not just a simple overlay and it got in... i suspect "accidentally" too.
thing is, i can't do any updates to it. those get rejected saying that i have to wait for the next OS release.
basically, it is a game of hide n seek where you chase ghosts or other players in the real world... when you get near the ghosts, they show up in the camera and you can snap their picture. it also has a heads up display on the camera stating how far away the target is and in what direction.
you can get it free here:
http://bit.ly/hideNtweet
Have you actually downloaded this app? If the augmented reality view is actually in it as advertised then it's very well hidden. Is it possible that there's been some sort of miscommunication inside the firm and these features aren't actually present in the app store version yet?
Nearest Tube and Nearest Subway seem to be next (if not out already) http://www.acrossair.com/apps_newyorknearestsubway.htm
Just checked, Subway and Tube are not out yet, but would be great if visiting either city.
Hi Marshall, thanks for the link... I didn't watch all five minutes of video, but is it doing anything other than using the compass to learn about the world? I saw a blinking rectangle generated, but it looked like the video feedthrough was not essential... true?
(There's a bit of pushback now from actual Augmented Reality folks against the "overlay" integration:
http://allthingsv.com/2009/08/23/is-that-really-augmented-reality/ )
tx, jd/adobe
Hey that's pretty sweet. Never thought the release would come so soon.
I saw an article today that hopes these types of devices or applications may be the saviour for the newspapers. I still have my doubts because you don't need a kindle to get your news, it's still free online.