Mobile Marketing Magazine

junaio Set for May Launch on Android

metaio has launched a closed Beta version of its junaio Augmented Reality (AR) app for Android developers. Until now, junaio has been available for the iPhone and the number of registered developers has reached over 250 since opening up the API in February 2010.
As with the iPhone version, the closed beta-version for Android allows registered developers to create AR-mashups, information channels or game concepts with the open API. As with other AR-browsers, users can find nearby POIs (Points of Interest) like shops, restaurants or train stations by simply pointing their mobile phone`s camera at the local environment. Additionally, since Android allows access to the videostream, the Android version will be the first free and open mobile platform to provide natural feature tracking to the developer community.
"We expect these capabilities to revolutionize outdoor or print advertising, packaging and mobile gaming", says metaio CTO, PeterMeier. “Users now can point their phone at a billboard and virtual characters might be jumping out of it. The software recognizes the image and overlays dynamic data, true to position, scale and target group into the real world view of the camera.”
The client version of the app should be available for Android phones mid-May.

Nescafe Gets Into Augmented Reality

Nescafe has launched a free Augmented Reality app for Android and the iPhone in Chile. The channel,  which uses the Layar AR platform, was created by digital agency Wunderman Chile, and enables users to discover places and events within 5km of their current position. After downloading the app, users simply enter a keyword, (e.g. ‘Music’) and point their camera in any direction to see relevant places and events displayed on their phone.

metaio Sees Strong Interest from junaio AR Developers

Augmented Reality (AR) firm metaio says that number of registered developers for its mobile AR browser platform junaio has rapidly grown since the company opened up its API (Application Programming Interface) four weeks ago, and has now passed the 200 mark. The open API, junaio gives developers and content providers the opportunity to create their own channels, complete with AR applications. metaio says that the open API is easy to use and does require only basic knowledge in programming, (e.g. XML and server side programming, such as PHP) to create state-of-the-art AR applications.
"We are very pleased with the number of developers. The feedback we receive is that junaio is a great opportunity for developers to create state of the art applications without spending any money", says metaio CTO, Peter Meier.
Metaio lists AR Mashups, multiplayer games or scavenger hunts, interactive, indoor and outdoor exhibitions, tours with animated 3D characters, edutainment and location-independent gaming as some of the potential applications for AR.  The company is also offering a cash prize of $5,000 for the developer who creates the best channel. Anyone who registers as a developer and sets up a channel before 16 June, 2010 will be entered into the competition automatically. The five channels with the most subscribers will be shortlisted. An independent jury with AR- and IT-business experts will then select the winner. Among the jury members are Robert Scoble; ReadWriteWeb´s Chris Cameron; Mobile Consultants Christine Perey and Ken Blakeslee; Industrial AR expert, enthusiast and blogger Thomas Carpenter; and Prof. Dr. Geiger from Duesseldorf University of Applied Sciences Department of Media Mixed Reality and Visualization.
Developers can register via the junaio website.
metaio is also running a Developers camp at the AR DevCamp in Berlin on 24 April. The junaio team will give an insight in what developers can do with the new junaio API in free and moderated coding sessions. In addition, ideas for new channels will be collected discussed. There’s more information about ARDev Camp, including venue and registration details, here.

Yell Adds Augmented Reality to iPhone App

Directory service Yell has added Augmented Reality (AR) to its iPhone App. The free Augmented Reality iPhone Beta App has been designed by Yell Labs. It enables iPhone 3GS users to ‘see’ local shops, offices, restaurants and other useful services through the iPhone’s camera viewer.
As the user moves the iPhone around, yellow boxes are displayed over the live feed of the world directly in front of the user. When one of these boxes is touched, information is overlayed on the business, including the address, phone number, opening hours and website. The information is taken from Yell’s database of 2 million businesses.
If the user swipes their finger to the right, a display with popular searches appears. When the user swipes their finger to the left, they can set the distance they want to see, enabling them to reduce the amount of information on the screen.
“We’re pleased with the result of our first experiment with Augmented Reality and are now working on fully integrating AR with our mobile service later in the year,” says Yell Director of New Media Product Marketing, Matthew Bottomley. 

Bay Area Transit System Turns to Augmented Reality

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) in San Fransisco and Augmented Reality (AR) firm metaio have partnered to integrate transit data, such as station locations and estimated arrival times, into a BART channel on metaio's junaio 2.0 AR platform being launched at the South by Southwest Interactive Conference in Austin, Texas, this week.
With mobile AR technology, users see digital content such as text or graphics overlaid on real objects on their mobile phones. junaio lets users tag photos, audio and text in the real world and leave digital ‘crumbs’ behind at particular locations for others to explore. For example, a rider coming out of the Montgomery BART Station in San Francisco could see recommendations left by friends for restaurants or shops to try that are near that station. Or, simply by pointing the camera on their phone, a user could find the direction to the nearest BART station and get a list of estimated arrivals for the next trains to their destination.
junaio is currently available free for iPhone 3GS and through a web interface (www.junaio.com), with a version for Android in development.
BART was one of the first transit agencies in the US to provide schedule and real- time data to developers. Today more than two dozen applications have been created using BART data. There’s more information about BART apps here. And you can see a video of the BART AR channel in action here.

metaio Updates junaio AR Browser

metaio has launched an updated version of its open Augmented Reality (AR) iPhone and mobile web browser junaio. V2.0 of junaio is available now in the App Store and offers new features, including indoor usage, web- and user-based information channels, and an open API for developer. An Android version is in development.
By combining GPS- and compass-based geo-information with the so called, patent-pending LLA-marker (longitude, latitude, altitude) technology, users now can experience AR inside buildings. So in a museum, for example, a user could point their camera at the information board next to an exhibit and get the information on their phone.
“junaio is the first service offering this cutting-edge approach,” says metaio CEO, Peter Meier. “junaio 2.0 makes it possible to bring Augmented Reality to places like exhibitions, trade fairs, shopping malls or stations, without being dependent on the limited accuracy of the GPS-technology.”
This feature will be demonstrated in a ‘scavengAR-hunt’ being staged by Porter Novelli at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference in Austin, Texas next week. Visitors have to find clues in the real world throughout the SXSW venues, collect digital items on them and be the first to finish the AR scavenger hunt to win prizes.
junaio 2.0 also introduces a new way to arrange location-based content through mobile content channels, offered in the real world via AR. These channels currently include News, Culture, Shopping, Games, Travel and Food and will help users to find the closest and best rated restaurants, shops, or whatever they are looking for, more easily. Users can set up their own personal channel and share posts, notes or points of interests with friends, or make channels public to everyone. The feature enables users to share their experiences, 3D objects, Twitter messages, websites or recommendations of nearby locations with their friends, and help build the junaio-social community.
The first content-provider channels included within the junaio 2.0 platform, will be a US-based transportation service provider, and the Eventful Channel. The Eventful Channel integrates data, such as event locations and venue details, into the AR browser. Eventful offers a varied selection of local events, from movies, concerts and sports to singles events and kids’ activities. Users will have mobile access to events venues and information, anytime and anywhere.

kooaba Unveils Image Recognition AR App

kooaba is demonstrating its prototype for live Augmented Reality (AR) on Android phones at the Mobile Monday ‘Hands on Augmented Reality’ event in Zurich this evening. The demonstration starts at 1600 on the Polyterasse of ETHZurich.
kooaba’s prototype AR app is designed for Android handsets. Rather than relying solely on GPS and compass information, kooaba’s system also integrates real-time image recognition technology. This allows for recognizing and labelling objects on the phone’s screen with high precision. It therefore allows for augmenting both stationary objects such as building and statues, and non-stationary objects such as products, newspapers and billboards. Kooaba’s application is first of its kind to show such capabilities to the general public.
The prototype has been developed in close cooperation with the Computer Vision laboratory at ETH Zurich and was generously supported by the Swiss innovation promotion agency CTI and Haslerstiftung.
In a co-located event on the same day, ARDevcamp Zurich, kooaba will also make parts of its visual recognition platform available to developers for free. The platform will be accessible via an API (Application Programming Interface) after signing up online. This will give developers around the world access to advanced image recognition tools in order to develop innovative applications.

GeoVector Updates World Surfer App

GeoVector Corporation, which develops mobile technology that links digital information with real-world places, has unveiled Version 2.0 of its GeoVector World Surfer 2.0 iPhone application, which provides enhancements to GeoVector’s popular directional search and pointing application. The app is available for download from the Apple App Store. Version 1 of the app is available from Android Market for Android handsets, with an update due in the next few months.
Developed for compass-enabled GPS Smartphones, World Surfer allows users to point their phones in a particular direction to search for retailers, restaurants and other points of interest. The app includes free text search and the ability to save favorite searches. Version 2 also incorporates camera view Augmented Reality (AR) as a guidance enhancement to help users verify the distance, location and direction of their destinations.

Augmented Reality App Downloads to Boom, says Juniper

The annual number of mobile downloads featuring Augmented Reality (AR) content is expected to rise from less than 1 million in 2009 to more than 400 million by 2014, according to a new report from Juniper Research.
The report, ‘Mobile Augmented Reality Forecasts, Applications & Opportunity Appraisal 2009-2014’, notes that the proliferation of app stores among both network operators and Operating System vendors, allied to a steady rollout of AR-enabling technology on Smartphones, will lead to a greater number of AR apps being made readily available to end-users, and to subsequent rapid increases, both in the levels of adoption and service usage.
In addition, the report concludes that location-based search apps will account for the majority of all AR downloads annually over the next five years, although by 2014, games – the second most successful category in terms of downloads - will have achieved nearly 30% of all downloads per annum. The report also notes that while AR enterprise apps are unlikely to launch before 2012 due to technological constraints, and will subsequently account for a small minority of downloads, they will, however, be able to command a very high subscription price. According to the report, total annual revenues from AR-enabled apps will reach $732 million (£458 million) in 2014, up from less than $2 million in 2010.
There’s more information about the report here.

metaio Updates junaio Augmented Reality App

metaio has released version 1.5 of its junaio Augmented Reality (AR) application for the iPhone. The new version has enhanced live-view functionalities, new social features, and improved usability.
The enhanced live-view feature uses Google Local Search to display points of interest at locations, such as restaurants and businesses. New Social Features include rating and commenting on scenes generated by other users; the ability to sort scenes by popularity, publish AR scenes to Twitter using Twitpic, and to tag weblinks, text messages and post-it notes in the real world via the junaio website.
Users can also publish content to multiple social networks, and jump to the location on Google maps where the content was published. Metaio has also improved the user interface and increased download speeds.
metaio says the enhancements to the junaio platform will make it easier for users to search for things of interest around them or create their own AR content and share it with others. The company says its goal is to bring AR more prominently into everyday use. Last week, the company announced the opening of its junaio API to developers to encourage additional content creation and other possibilities such as AR gaming.
“junaio is all about the user having fun with augmented reality and creating their own content to share with friends or for others’ to see,” says junaio Product Marketing Manager, Lisa Murphy. “We have learned a lot from our users in the 1st version and are bringing more features that the users want in 1.5 and in future releases.”

Google Unveils Google Goggles

Google has unveiled Google Goggles, a visual search application for Android devices that allows users to search with a picture instead of words. When you take a picture of an object with the camera on your phone, Google attempts to recognize the item, and returns relevant search results.
Google Goggles works by attempting to match portions of a picture against its database of images. When a match is found, it returns search terms that are relevant to the matched image. Goggles currently recognizes tens of millions of objects, including places, famous works of art, and logos. For places, the user doesn’t even need to take a picture. Just open Google Goggles and hold your phone in front of the place you're interested in, then using the device’s GPS and compass, Goggles will recognise what that place is and display its name on the camera viewfinder. You can then tap the business name to get more info on it.
“Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words,” says Google Goggles Product Manager, Shailesh Nalawadi. “For many search queries, using an image to search is easier and more useful than text alone, especially on a mobile. Computer vision technology is still in its infancy, but Goggles demonstrates its potential. We are hard at work extending our recognition capabilities. You can imagine a future where visual searching is as natural as pointing your finger.”
Google Goggles is available as a free downloadable application in Android Market. It is currently available in English around the world.

metaio Unveils junaio AR App

Augmented reality  technology firm metaio has launched junaio, a free iPhone application that enables users to generate 3D augmented reality experiences on their iPhones. Users without an iPhone can edit and share 3D augmented reality images via the online junaio platform
junaio is a mobile and online platform that lets users create, explore and share information in a new way using augmented reality and location-based content. According to metaio, users can place 3D objects, Twitter messages or websites into the real world and then share their creations with friends through social networks. For example, a user could search for restaurants, cafes, museums, bars or shops via Google local search and see the results in a 360° live-view of the camera.
With junaio, metaio says it is putting the power of its augmented reality technology, which has been used, among others, by Volkswagen, LEGO and Popular Science, in the hands of everyday consumers. The worldwide film company Focus Features has partnered with junaio to place memorable characters from its hit animated movies ‘9’ and ‘Coraline’ on the platform to allow users to interact with the creations.
junaio is designed to tie existing platforms together with augmented reality- based social interactions. Users can insert an (animated) 3D object into a photo taken with their iPhone and upload it to Facebook, or augment images that others have posted. The technology will soon be available on other Smartphone platforms, including Android and Symbian.
“junaio is the ultimate augmented reality experience, bringing the full creative power of the Internet to the world around you,” says metaio CTO, Peter Meier. “This application defines a new dimension in communication with features that can be easily used by the consumer audience to enhance individuals’ interactions in the social networking world.”
You can see a video of junaio in action here. And check out how Lego is using the platform here.