It is the season for analysts to release their forecasts about Augmented Reality and related technologies. One of the enabling technology segments is smart glasses.

In the new report on Consumer & Enterprise Smart Glasses: Opportunities & Forecasts 2015-2020, Juniper Research is predicting growth in hardware sales across 8 key regions and 12 countries. The forecast also breaks down unit sales and revenues according to whether the use is for Consumer, Enterprise or Healthcare.

The study mentions many companies that are not yet in the industry but could be preparing offerings, such as Amazon, Analog Devices, Apple, Brother and YouTube. AREA members APX Labs, Atheer and Augmate are mentioned in the report, but unfortunately, the summary of the report is unclear on how the analysts classified other hardware such as the DAQRI Smart Helmet and Microsoft Hololens.

Everyone recognizes that enterprises and consumers have different requirements for their wearable Augmented Reality hardware. In a post on the BrainXchange Wearable Tech blog, Tony Sun, analyst with Lux Research, explains a new framework for describing those differences.

The firm has studied more than 70 use cases for smart glasses. They also collected the features of 16 models of smart glasses. Ten of the products examined are able to meet the needs of real time communication applications, making that a highly congested space at this time.

The Lux Research analysis proposes that there are three use case categories, which require different functionalities of the hardware:

1. Presentation of information in context
2. Communication with remote experts for guidance
3. Documentation of tasks or inspections

Lux Research’s helpful framework makes it very clear at a glance that not all devices are best suited to all use cases. This then leads to the conclusion (not part of the Lux Research post), that enterprises will likely have to purchase and support multiple smart glasses models. This could make things complicated, and more expensive than budgeted.

Augmented Reality is beginning to emerge as an option for visualizing data produced by connected objects and systems. Some call these networks of sensors and processors the Internet of Things. In this post by Harish Nivas on the IOTWorm blog, the author describes how this will work in the automotive industry.

The post begins by describing some of the consumer use cases that help customers select options for their future vehicles. Then it describes how eKurzinfo, a 2013 AR project done by Audi for its 2015 A3 model, brought the car’s user manual to life.

With the advent of sensors and connected vehicles, the post suggests that drivers and passengers will be safer and be able to see in their environment the data from the connected environment: live traffic feeds, weather updates and point and learn content. While these are use cases focusing on consumers, the same information could apply to industrial and commercial vehicles in the future.

IDC Vice President, Devices and Displays, Tom Mainelli published a post on Recode.net blog sharing his views on the future of Augmented Reality in the workplace. Mainelli suggests that “like the typewriter gave way to the personal computer, for some workers an AR device will replace the sometimes awkward use of a notebook, tablet or smartphone.”

Mainelli is currently conducting research for a report on enterprise Augmented Reality in which he plans to profile the use cases in at least these six key industries:

– Health care
– Design/Architecture
– Logistics
– Manufacturing
– Military
– Services

He points out in the post that while a lot of emphasis is currently on new hardware, it’s not enough for the workforce to have this hardware if its not accompanied by new solutions and services. Mainelli suggests that “creating an ecosystem where developers can build and sustain useful apps will be key.”

We support Mainelli’s conclusions and, fortunately, supporting the development of that ecosystem is one of the important objectives of the AR for Enterprise Alliance.

In a press release issued by Technavio, the company announced that it has identified seven top contributors to the overall revenue generated from sales of mobile Augmented Reality software and services. Two of these, DAQRI and Catchoom, are AREA members.

The quote in the release states that the company’s human interface research analyst, Sunil Kumar, found Augmented Reality to be beneficial in providing information about a product or service in use cases that involved consumers. The revenues generated by AR suppliers are compared to the total mobile advertising revenues.

The seven companies selected are quite similar to those profiled in the recent Gartner Group industry update, including:
– Augmented Pixels
– Aurasma
– Blippar
– Catchoom
– DAQRI
– Metaio
– Wikitude

Unfortunately, the company’s analysts do not shed any additional light on whether they studied or sized revenues generated from enterprise use cases.

Gartner Group, advisors to enterprises, has released an updated analysis of the Augmented Reality market.

The report’s lead analyst, Tuong Huy Nguyen, who studies primarily immersive technologies and consumer behavior, recommends that strategic planners at device providers and application developers be cautious about who and how they establish relationships with AR technology vendors. Nguyen has studied recent acquisitions and, based on the summary on the report’s information page on the Gartner web site, predicts that there will be many more changes in the AR vendor landscape before the dust settles.

Unfortunately, the study profiles only five of the many current vendors which, with the exception of DAQRI, are primarily providing technologies for customer engagement and external use cases: HP Aurasma, Blippar, Catchoom, DAQRI, Kudan and Wikitude.

Perhaps a future report will focus more narrowly on the many enterprise Augmented Reality trends.

Augmented Reality’s integration into future engineering and manufacturing processes is described in a recent report entitled “Engineering and Manufacturing +2025: Building the World” published by DHL’s Trend Research Group. The report begins by describing Industry 4.0 and digital manufacturing trends. It predicts that in the future many work processes will be increasingly supported by information provided via Augmented Reality.

The analysts suggest that Augmented Reality is likely to increase efficiency but tapping the potential may involve a re-design of production chains. One of the motivations for increasingly developing and integrating Augmented Reality, the report states, is that it may enable lower-skilled workers to perform more complex tasks.

To support its assertions and forecast, the report provides evidence published by Boeing, an AREA founding sponsor member. Boeing mechanics have been equipped with AR-enabled tablets on the assembly line to evaluate their suitability for reducing reliance on highly trained professionals for certain tasks.

Putting trained professionals in the field is costly. Sending two to the same site is safer but may double the cost to the customer or service provider. The challenge of insuring lone workers may be reduced using smart glasses and cameras.

In this post on the Field Service News blog, Editor in Chief Kirk Oldland points out that field workers using Augmented Reality could receive urgent notifications or step-by-step instructions without diverting their attention to a tablet or paper manual. Furthermore, using hands-free displays, the worker’s both hands would be free and could prevent errors in high-risk environments such as on an electricity pylon or scaffolding.

The same post also suggests that “smart garments” worn by field service professionals could also play a role. Specially designed garments for field service professionals could be sending sensor data about the worker’s body and whereabouts as well as keeping cables hidden where they will not be caught by objects, and could store extra battery packs or accessories.

Pair3D is publisher of software and platforms for interior design and an application that accompanies the IKEA catalog in the United States. The company recently released a well-written analysis of the Goldman Sachs report on AR and VR on its blog, Insight. The post points out that the GS analysis is weak in its coverage of Augmented Reality and fails to capture many important trends.

The authors agree with the report that cost will be the chief driver of the use cases that dominate AR HMDs and that AR HMD use cases will be primarily focused on enterprise productivity until 2025. However, they point out that the report ignores the opportunities for AR on tablets and projection technologies.

The post suggests that if the report is someone’s first exposure to the VR and AR market, the reader will learn something but will also be misled. The authors conclude that the report “falls short in its assumptions and analyses in a few key areas which will be vital for the VR/AR industry over the next decade.”

On its blog Field Service News published an interview conducted by Kris Oldland, Editor-in-Chief, with Cranfield University School of Management’s Professor Howard Lightfoot. In the interview, Lightfoot expresses his conviction that Augmented Reality could revive field service as a profession worthy of attention by millennials. The problem is that field service is facing a significant aging workforce crisis. A shortage of qualified field service professionals could hamper the growth of businesses and increase downtime in mission critical systems.

Lightfoot says AR in field service operations is potentially a “massive game changer.” The suggestion is that rather than training the number of professionals needed to perform highly specialized tasks, Augmented Reality-assisted remote guidance will permit remote specialists to support anyone in the field. By connecting with skilled technicians, people will be able to more easily perform service and even repairs themselves. When the specialist can see what a local person is doing and immediately overlay information or to “digitally point at things,” travel to remote locations becomes less necessary.