Qualcomm demonstrated its augmented reality app projects at the company's IQ 2010 event at London's Science Museum on Wednesday.
The company says that it is working with a number of academic institutions to further its research in augmented reality (AR) and that it has already established AR gaming studios at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
However, far from being restricted to gaming, the company hopes to see AR being applied to applications such as instructional 'how-to' guides, learning aids — such as languages or childrens' education — as well as marketing/promotional uses.
"AR transforms your mobile device into what has been described as a magic looking glass where you can interact with the real world. With a dedicated in-house team of AR technologists and visionaries, and collaborations with leading academic institutions such as Georgia Institute of Technology and Technology Institut Graz (Austria), Qualcomm's AR vision-based platform enables a new breed of user experiences," says the company's official augmented reality web page.
Qualcomm is also hosting an Augmented Reality Developer Challenge to try and encourage developers to work on new apps, offering a total of $200,000 (£129,000) prize money — including a $125,000 first prize for the victor. The closing date for entries is 7 January, 2011 and the winners are expected to be announced at Mobile World Congress in February.
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