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.

Most people do not think of manufacturing as an industry eager to adopt the latest cutting edge technology, however, Industry 4.0 and digital manufacturing are changing that perception of the industry. Augmented Reality is one of the companion technology suites that manufacturers are studying and considering for deployment, according to an interview published on the Manufacturing.net portal.

In the interview, Index AR Solutions‘ COO, Dexter Liley, explains how “the second half of 2015 was characterized by significantly increased awareness and understanding that this isn’t another fad.” He pointed to the acquisitions and the introduction of solutions such as Microsoft Hololens as contributing to the increased attention that manufacturers are paying to Augmented Reality.

When asked where he expects to see the first wave of adoption, Liley predicts “industries that still require a significant amount of work be performed by skilled workers will benefit the most.” More specifically, he says that his company is targeting heavy manufacturing, building and facility construction and oil and gas construction and operations. In some situations, Liley suggests, machines could be replaced by workers assisted with Augmented Reality-enabled systems. He also predicted that AR will be an “industrial staple” within 10 years.

In a press release issued by PTC the company announced that it will be introducing a new tracking marker, the VuMark, and that Vuforia will soon support Windows 10.

In an event on the same day, the company shared that it would soon be rolling out a new suite of products as part of a platform called “ThingX,” which stands for Thing Experience. ThingBrowser, ThingServer, and ThingBuilder, the three components of the ThingX platform, will take an entirely different “turnkey” approach to authoring AR experiences than was previously provided by Vuforia.

The ThingX announcement was made during the ThingEvent, a webinar and studio event, produced by the company. A post on the PTC blog summarizes the highlights of the event and the ThingX platform. A video archive of the ThingEvent is also available for playback.

California lawmakers and agencies are poised to improve their service to citizens with Augmented Reality, according to a post on TechWire.net, the digital magazine companion to TechWire magazine focusing on the public-sector technology industry in California.

The post summarizes a presentation made by Gregory Curtin, founder and CEO of Civic Resource Group, during the Government Transformation conference in Sacramento, California. Curtain explained that Augmented Reality helps tap the full potential of the network of Internet of Things and can offer integrated, seamless solutions to citizens. One of the use cases proposed is to permit citizens to review plans to invest in new infrastructure such as roads and bridges. The workforce of government agencies could also experience significant productivity gains by having their manuals, expert advice, maps and diagrams readily accessible and superimposed on the real world.

Curtin also published a post on LinkedIn Pulse about Smart Cities and their use of Augmented Reality.

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.

TechProResearch has released a very interesting report with results of a fresh survey in which over 200 enterprise respondents were asked about their:

– Familiarity and experience with VR and AR
– Future plans for VR and AR
– Timeline for adoption of VR and AR
– VR and AR applications of interest
– Importance of cost in decision to use VR and AR
– How vendors can best help organizations

The results, summarized with graphs and tables in this TechProResearch blog post, are very interesting. They show that 38% are very familiar with Augmented Reality and 42% are somewhat familiar with the technology. Further, twenty percent of the respondents are considering its use in the next 12 months, ten percent say it will be in the next 3 years and a full 37% say it is on their strategic roadmap but no timeline has been set for introduction.

See Teena Maddox, the lead analyst, offering her synopsis of the report in this video post.

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.