One of the most intriguing areas where a mobile device changes the game is the area of "augmented reality." Augmented reality describes where the position and orientation of a video camera on a phone is used to establish what is being seen on the screen, and computer graphics are overlaid on top of the video image the user sees to "augment" the real images. For example, holding your phone up and pointing it at a restaurant's menu might pop up translations and nutrition information on the items on the menu.
This concept holds truly massive opportunities for retailers to explore in their stores, and over the next couple weeks, we're going to bring you many stories of how augmented reality is applied to retail. Our first example comes from Hong Kong, where Nike did a particularly innovative campaign to create awareness of their T-90 product line by giving consumers an incredibly rich content experience... right in the palm of their hand and right where they were likely to be thinking about the product, from the soccer field to the retail mall.
Watch a video of the Nike augmented reality project at McKann...
Augmented reality may seem like science fiction, but it's here today... and easily available through some of the most popular smartphones out there like the iPhone. So retailers face a simple choice: understand how mobile retailing works now, or play catchup to more savvy competitors next year. Agree? Disagree? Either way, join the conversation at the inaugural GREC Mobile Retail Experience event at the fall CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment conference in San Diego on 7 October 2009. Retailers, industry analysts, and technology experts will be gathered to explore how retail will adapt to - and ultimately thrive with - customers armed with connected smartphones in the store. We'd like to invite you to join us at this exciting event, and you can learn more about it at http://www.mobileretailexperience.com
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