Author: Stephen

Project Glass minus augmented reality

| January 7, 2013

Project Glass augmented reality changeProject Glass not likely to offer augmented reality at launch

Google’s Project Glass has been receiving limited attention in recent months, largely due to the fact that Google has pumped the brakes on its promotional campaigns concerning the augmented reality glasses. Project Glass remains in a state of early development, but several prototype models have been seen in the real world, outside of Google’s laboratory. There have been rumors circulating that Project Glass will not actually include augmented reality technology, a feature that drew in the majority of attention concerning the high-tech eyewear. These rumors may actually be true.

Head engineer notes that augmented reality is not an immediate goal

Project Glass head engineer Babak Parviz has announced that augmented reality is not an immediate goal for the project. This may come as a shock for consumers that have been looking forward to the high-tech eyewear because Google has been very adamant about the inclusion of augmented reality technology in Project Glass. When the glasses were first unveiled in early 2012, augmented reality was billed as one of the project’s primary features.

Google faces criticism for hyping augmented reality

For several months after the unveiling of Project Glass, Google has been pushing the idea that augmented reality would be one of the cornerstone features of the glasses. According to Parviz, however, augmented reality has been difficult to incorporate into the project. As such, augmented reality may be completely absent from the commercial launch of Project Glass. Instead, the eyewear will come with an application programming interface that will allow developers to create their own applications.

Developers able to create their own applications for Project Glass

The application programming interface will be able to support augmented reality applications and Project Glass itself will certainly be equipped with the hardware necessary for these applications to run smoothly. Future incarnations of Project Glass may include augmented reality of its own, but the technology is not likely to be seen in the first commercial products that are released from Google.

Burberry begins pushing into the digital space

| January 5, 2013

Burberry mobile commerceBurberry begins evolving to appeal to mobile consumers

Famed British fashion house Burberry is currently undergoing a mobile makeover. The 150-year old company has survived significant challenges and paradigm shifts in its long history and is now feeling the pressure to become more mobile-friendly. More consumers around the world are making use of mobile devices in shopping and other aspects of their daily lives. As such, Burberry and other companies are feeling the need to take steps to continue engaging these consumers.

CEO looks to modernize tradition

Burberry has long clung to tradition, with the company making only modest changes to its approach to an evolving consumer base and its visual appeal over the years. CEO Angela Ahrendts and chief creative officer Christopher Bailey have been working to push the company to new heights in the digital space, with a keen focus on the mobile sector. The need to focus on mobile consumers is clear. According to Ahrendts, more people visit the Burberry website than those walking into the company’s various physical stores all over the world combined.

Burberry embraces mobile commerce

One of the ways Ahrendts is working to modernize Burberry is making updates to the company’s website. The website will receive monthly updates and will offer consumers and expanded array of products. Mobile commerce will be supported through the website, allowing customers to purchase any product they are interested in through the use of their mobile device. The mobile commerce element may eventually find its way into physical Burberry stores in the future in an attempt to make these stores more appealing to tech-savvy consumers.

Mobile commerce becoming the key to engage new generation of consumers

Burberry is not the only company that has been working to stay relevant to a new generation of consumers. This is a trend that is being seen throughout the retail industry. Several companies are turning to mobile commerce as the ideal way to provide consumers with the services they crave. Burberry has targeted mobile commerce as well, but Ahrendts is keen to push the boundaries of the company in order to break into new territory and give consumers more than one reason to continue supporting the company.