'Pokemon GO' gives Zuckerberg AR dreams; Facebook to venture into AR

It seems Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook also loves “Pokemon GO.” That’s why he has announced a push into Augmented Reality (AR). Facebook may soon start experimenting on a mix of real and digital worlds, just like the hit smartphone game.

Even though the Facebook CEO has not hinted anything about developing AR games, he did say that the popular networking platform is a great hub for businesses to reach people and experiment with AR. ‘Pokemon GO,’ developed by Niantic and Nintendo, has generated a massive fan following as players can use AR to capture animated characters that appear in real-time locations. AR has also enabled people to assemble a virtual human brain or hang out with a hologram of Mad Men star Jon Hamm, writes The Australian Financial Review.

Zuckerberg believes that his recent push to add camera features to Facebook’s suite of smartphone apps will help the company popularise AR. The networking site has come a long way from being a platform for students to share photos of each other to becoming a full-fledged platform for entrepreneurs to generate revenues for their companies. AR will be its next big step. Facebook will raise the bar by doing so, especially to compete against Snap Inc, the maker of Snapchat.

However, Facebook’s entry into AR will be much bigger than that of “Pokemon GO.” It will be much more than just finding a critter in a one-block radius. People will be able to use this technology to find virtual street art on a wall that in real life is blank or leave a virtual note for a friend at a bar. Zuckerberg also hinted at people using AR on eyewear, speaking at F8, Facebook’s annual conference for software developers.

“Over time, I think this is going to be a really important technology that changes how we use our phones,” Zuckerberg stated, reports ABC News.

Facebook executives however said that the AR technology is still in its early stages and that the journey to the future of AR is just one percent complete. Meanwhile, Facebook is also pushing its Virtual Reality (VR) hardware. It has launched Facebook Spaces for Oculus Rift VR users. In this virtual world, users can hang out with avatar versions of their friends in a virtual world. However, this feature is not meant for all, as they not only require the VR headset that costs about US$500 (AU$1,100 approx), but also a very expensive computer to make it work.