Market Reality: Perfect Corp. & EchoPixel Close Series A Rounds on Interactive Apps
Investors are ready to throw their money at augmented and virtual use cases that demonstrate a business purpose and a return on investment.
Investors are ready to throw their money at augmented and virtual use cases that demonstrate a business purpose and a return on investment.
As augmented reality gains popularity, the demand for delivering related services and generating content increases. This is demonstrated by a pair of investments from the past week, one in the expansion of a technology lab and another in the form of seed funding for a content studio.
Augmented reality can be used to fascinate and entertain, but it can be applied in the workplace. While companies on the entertainment end received their votes of confidence via funding, two companies working with enterprises demonstrated their worth by teaming up to pursue customers.
Millions of dollars continue to pour into the Chinese driverless market. Now, according to research firm CB Insights, $929 million have been invested in the first quarter of this year.
Winter is coming for Amazon. It looks like the company is having another go at the smartphone world with its release of new smartphones branded as "Ice".
This week in Market Reality, we see two companies capitalizing on technologies that contribute to augmented reality platforms. In addition, industry mainstays Vuzix and DAQRI have business news of their own to report.
Apple is combining internal and external talent in an effort to give them in edge in the augmented reality market, though we still don't know what form their foray into alternative realities will actually take.
HoloLens developer Michael Peters of In-Vizible has released quite a few videos since receiving his HoloLens last year. Many of his experiments are odd and funny, but some include serious potential approaches to data visualization. In the videos embedded below, you'll specifically see stock market information beautifully rendered in different ways to help understand the data.
There's a new operating system on the horizon, and this one's so big that it may actually live up to its galactic moniker. Andromeda, a merging of Android and Chrome OS, has the potential to bring Google to the ubiquitous status that Microsoft's Windows enjoyed in the '80s and '90s.
Confused by TikTok? Trying to grow your Instagram fanbase? Aiming to create the perfect Facebook ad? Growing an audience might be challenging, but with the right strategies, it is possible — and fun.
This week, Next Reality published its annual feature on the leaders in the augmented reality industry, the Next Reality 30. So it's no coincidence that the companies represented in the top four spots of the NR30 also made business headlines in AR this week.
Avian flu is making the news again with new human cases in China reported in January. What does "avian flu" mean to you—and how dangerous is it?
Not everything that Facebook does is in the best interest of its users. Just look at past examples such as social ads, facial recognition, and instant personalization. Users were perfectly fine without these, and they still are. And now there's another annoying problem that Facebook users have to deal with—the ticker.
Facebook recently unveiled its latest set of upgrades for Facebook profiles. If you want to get the new Facebook profile looks early, this trick will help you turn on the new features so that you can showcase that big picture front and center.
Hollywood loves sequels so much that studios and their marketing teams are not too proud to release a sequel of an augmented reality promotion.
With the latest software updates for its Focals smartglasses, North has essentially deputized its customers as marketing evangelists to friends and family.
As Microsoft continues to bask in the glow of its HoloLens 2 unveiling and begins ramping up the hype to launch, Nreal and Vuzix are carving out their own niches in the AR hardware landscape.
We already know that Microsoft has something big planned for later this month, and now we have details on how to watch the company's big reveal.
The era of smartglasses designed for consumers has officially begun, as shipments of North Focals began arriving at its stores this week. And the company now has plans to expand its retail footprint.
On Friday, at IFA 2018 in Berlin, Samsung invited attendees into the residence of Family Guy's Griffin family to learn all about its "smart home" products via augmented reality.
Just in time for Women's Equality Day on Aug. 26, Treasury Wine Estates is breaking out a line of wines with augmented reality experiences that pay tribute to historically famous women.
While Magic Leap has gained attention for its ability to raise capital, the company (now with an actual product on the market) still faces an uphill climb against the titans of the industry.
Snapchat is enjoying a high field goal percentage when it comes to securing movie studio business with its sponsored augmented reality experiences, the latest coming through the basketball movie Uncle Drew.
Last week's Augmented World Expo felt like a distant memory by this Monday, as Apple unveiled ARKit 2.0 at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. Certainly, this news would overshadow anything augmented reality this week as it nearly eclipsed AWE when early reports leaked of the toolkit's new superpowers.
It will likely take a few more years before smartglasses are ready for primetime as component makers achieve the innovations necessary for consumer-centric device designs. Nevertheless, two technology companies are making steps in that direction as Qualcomm is rumored to be working on a chip dedicated to AR & VR headsets, while DigiLens has reduced the size of its waveguide displays for motorcycle helmets.
Waveguide manufacturer DigiLens has closed a $25 million Series C round of funding from automotive technology company Continental, which uses the technology in its heads up displays.
Some of the big guns developing augmented reality technology fired shots at their competitors with announcements and leaked plans this week.
Do you see a red door and wonder if it might be a good idea to paint it black? You could "ask Ask Sherwin-Williams," or, better yet, you could just ask the new augmented reality features in the retailer's mobile app.
In an effort to help its advertising partners close sales with its sponsored augmented reality camera effects, Snapchat has launched a set of e-commerce tools designed to encourage users to buy products directly in the app.
While flying can be a frustrating and sometimes nerve-racking experience, Airbus is banking on augmented reality features in its new iflyA380 app for iPhones and iPads to help passengers learn to love the ordeal.
During its third-quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that "AR is going to change everything."
Samsung just announced that the Galaxy S8 is getting a fresh coat of paint, launching a burgundy red color of the flagship in their home market of Korea. There is currently little information about whether this color will come to the US for the S8, but this could be a preview of things to come. The Galaxy S9 is set to arrive in January and may also come in a beautiful red variant.
With smartglasses designed for navigating drones and an AR drone racing game to its credit, Epson has just added another credit to its pioneering efforts in the AR-meets-drones space with the launch of a drone simulator app.
The launch of the latest line of iPhones came and went without major revelations for advanced AR hardware other than the next iteration of processors and cameras.
Augmented and virtual reality continues to be a hot commodity among tech investors, with more than $800 million invested in AR/VR companies in the second quarter alone and global tech leaders like Samsung focusing their investment strategies on the emerging field.
Lenovo has partnered with Wikitude to develop a cloud-based platform for delivering industrial-focused augmented reality content, the companies announced at the Augmented World Expo today in Santa Clara, California.
Sherif Marakby has returned to Ford as the VP of AVs & Electrification after a brief stint with Uber. Marakby's VP title will be effective June 12.
Verizon has long been king in the wireless provider market, but recently it has had to step up its game in the data department. A limited data plan — with supposedly superior service — was no longer cutting it for customers. Many of whom left to take up the sweet, sweet offers of competitors like Sprint and T-Mobile. This past fiscal year, Verizon had a net loss of customers in the first quarter. Something that has never happened to them before.
Signal, the encrypted messaging app, has seen 1.4 million downloads in just the first quarter of 2017—roughly twice the downloads it received in the same period last year. Rani Molla at Recode attributes this to Donald Trump's inauguration, as the private messaging service saw a 40% increase in US downloads between Election Day and the end of the first quarter of 2017.
DigiLens, a company specializing in optical waveguide technology, recently announced that they had closed a $22 million round of strategic investment, also known as Series B funding. This round brought in Sony, Foxconn, Continental, and Panasonic, as well as more traditional venture investors such as Alsop Louie Partners, Bold Capital, Nautilus Venture Partners, and Dolby Family Ventures.