CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., March 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report from SmarTech Markets Publishing (SmarTech), an industry analyst firm based in Charlottesville, Virginia, predicts new technology, such as Google Glass, will boost worldwide Augmented Reality (AR) revenues.  But this growth will need new business alliances to make it happen.

The 50,000-word, "Opportunities for Augmented Reality: 2013-2022," report paints a picture of both AR's state-of-the-art and future trends.  It says that, as AR apps become widespread, AR is in danger of losing the "Wow" factor that fueled its first surge.  Advanced technology such as AR glasses from Apple, Google and Microsoft, as well as from independent firms such as Vuzix will help restore the "Wow" factor.   

Further details of this new SmarTech AR report can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/c4mzcpa

Meanwhile, a new generation of AR chips will add realism, comfort and functionality to AR environments. The next-generation of AR will have significant processing power requirements. Moving AR into hardware will make AR faster to use.

SmarTech claims that these AR chips will emerge from alliances that chip makers such as Intel and Texas Instruments are making with AR software companies such as Layar, metaio, and Total Immersion.  It also expects to see another set of alliances formed between software firms and the AR glasses firms.  These relationships will create high-performance AR apps tailored for AR glasses platforms

Despite these big changes, SmarTech says most of the revenues from AR over the next decade will come from just five applications (1) retail and advertising, (2) education and instruction manuals, (3) entertainment and gaming, (4) navigation, travel and location-based services, and (5) AR-based communications and collaboration.  Some applications – such as medicine – often get a lot of attention in AR circles, but the revenue generation potential can be quite limited.

This report contains granular ten-year forecasts of AR hardware and software revenues with breakouts by application and product type.  It also contains profiles of more than 30 of the firms that are shaping the AR space, with SmarTech's assessment of their strategies.  In addition to the firms mentioned above, these profiles cover ARM, Brilliant Service, CrowdOptic, Cisco, Ditto, Flutter, GeoVector, GlassUp, Golden-i, GoldRun, Gravity Jack, HP, IBM, iOnRoad, meta, Nokia, Occipital, Ogmento, Qualcomm, ST-Ericsson, Telibrahma, Tonchidot, TourWrist, Wallit, Wikitude, Yelp and Zugara.

For further information contact:  Rick McCormack
rick@smartechpublishing.com 
434-960-8479 (US)

SOURCE SmarTech Markets Publishing