On ReadWriteWeb, Sarah Perez writes Prepare Yourselves: Augmented Reality Hype on the Rise.
You know, I really like the RWW, but this particular article was pure complaining about the “Hype” with respect to Augmentated Reality (AR) to the point of bringing up the Hype Cycle of Emerging Technologies diagram.
At the end, who cares? Hype fuels expectations and hype makes things exciting, pushing imagination. More importantly, hype is about monetizing the opportunity, for those with the right good-enough product, right relationships, at the right time (i.e. remember Friendsfeed, you know, recently acquired by Facebook for $50M in cash and stock? Talk about hype converted to $$$$).
As I commented on the RWW blog:
AR has great potential.
Yes, *of course* (and expected) is that AR is “discovered” by marketers — because it is about monetizing the opportunity.
And note, the majority of these AR marketers are technologists, entrepreneurs, attempting to monetize their vision, know-how and technology; the application(s). Don’t believe me? Just check out the founders and teams of the different AR application makers/companies…
Hype (from peak, to slope, to plateau) is part of the process and expected; nothing wrong with it…
…regardless of which company is left standing at the end, the technology and potential is here to stay – cheap, real-time, augmented reality for everyone!
CEO