Mobile Groove

We conclude our series of five innovators in mobile Augmented Reality (AR) with Jay Wright, Qualcomm Director, Business Development. In this capacity Jay is responsible for developing and driving Qualcomm’s Augmented Reality (AR) commercialization strategy. Specifically, he manages Qualcomm’s partnerships with innovators in industry and academia, and leads Qualcomm’s efforts to enable AR within the mobile ecosystem.

Qualcomm made great strides in AR last year, releasing its AR Software Development Kit (SDK) for Android smartphones in October 2010. Offered through Qualcomm’s online developer network QDevNet, Qualcomm’s SDK enables a new breed of applications that delivers interactive 3D experiences on everyday objects, such as 3D gaming experiences on tabletops and interactive media experiences on product packaging and promotional items.

As we move into Part 4 of our Five From Five mobile predictions from industry innovators in mobile Augmented Reality (AR), we reach out to Mobilizy, a pioneer in the space sharply focused on the development of location-based services and AR experiences for smartphones.

By way of background, Mobilizy — the company behind the world-first Wikitude World mobile AR browser — recently launched an app that is a leap ahead of other turn-by-turn navigation systems. Wikitude Drive (available in Austria, Germany and Switzerland) is a fully functional mobile AR navigation system with global coverage that uses AR and the smartphone camera view to offer the driver navigation instructions.

Lester Madden is third in our series of five innovators in mobile Augmented Reality (AR) stepping up to offer 2011 predictions. Lester is a hands-on developer and executive whose work (at companies including Microsoft, Symbian and Nokia) has helped catapult AR to the top of the industry agenda. Lester is currently working at mobile operator Orange.

In addition to his role in the mobile industry, Lester also blogs about trends and developments impacting AR at Augmented Planet. Some good news for mobile developers eager to get involved in mobile AR. Lester is also working on a book on the subject, and we’ll have more on that project when it’s ready for prime time.

Robert Rice — author, serial entrepreneur, futurist and mobile Augmented Reality (AR) expert/enthusiast — is the second in our series of five innovators stepping up to offer predictions for 2011.

Robert is also the CEO of Neogence Enterprises, the company behind Mirascape, a location-based mobile platform that connects people, places, and things. The company is low-key but Robert’s Skype profile gives us a glimpse of how disruptive he intends to be. It reads: “Mobile Augmented Reality. I’m going to change the world ” I greatly look forward to following developments at Robert’s company — and I’m certain the impact will be seismic.

Today the popular (and viral) Five From Five series continues with mobile Augmented Reality (AR) and asks five companies/influencers across the emerging business ecosystem for their pick of hot topic and trends.

Christine Perey is more than an independent analyst; she is a leading – and passionate — evangelist working within the industry to increase deal flow, validate business models, and promote sanity (not hype) in the nascent mobile AR space. She made a huge impression on me when she stepped up to contribute a guest column (one of the most popular on MSearchGroove, I might add) examining mobile AR evolution, use cases and the revenue streams that will help advance the industry.