Apple AR

Say goodbye to living in just one plane of reality.

That’s because Apple announced today the release of its ARKit, a set of software tools that makes possible high-quality augmented reality (AR) seen through Apple iPhones and iPads.

It overlays 3D graphics, animation and photo-realistic objects on what we used to call the real world, in ways that take the next step beyond the Pokémon Go phenomenon last year.

With this wide availability of AR, marketing platform Wyng co-founder Wendell Lansford told me via email, AR will change “from a novelty to a viable marketing vehicle, and create new paid and owned marketing opportunities for brands and agencies.”

Its broad availability on Apple devices with iOS 11 (out tomorrow), plus comparable technology that Google is releasing for Androids, means that AR — after years of teasing — is now a full channel for entertainment, advertising, education, games and whatever else multi-plane imaginations can create.

The launch announcement was part of the iPhone 10th anniversary event today, which also featured new iPhones and new versions of the Apple Watch and Apple TV. In addition to the new phone models, the ARKit can work on any iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, iPhone SE, iPad Pro and 2017 iPad with the new iOS. In other words, by next year, an estimated half a billion iOS devices are expected to have this capability.

“I share all the enthusiasm in the world for this new consumer interaction model,” AdColony SVP for Strategy Ryan Griffin told me, including the possibility that AR-based advertising could someday be distributed programmatically.

‘Dive in and learn’

AR “is now on the launching pad” in ways that Pokémon Go doesn’t appear to have been, he added, noting that he had a good deal of experience with that pioneering game.

But, Griffin said, he would advise brands to first “dive in to learn” how consumers will use this new medium, and don’t try to sell things yet.

The ARKit, which was previewed in June at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, utilizes device motion tracking, camera scene capture and advanced scene processing so that the overlays know their positions in the physical world by detecting their position from the device. This means they can get bigger or smaller as you walk toward or away from them, or they can bump into walls.