These messages offer a new and unique way to share well wishes using smartphone technology.
Although most people do enjoy having an important occasion remembered through the use of a greeting card, augmented reality is starting to change the playing field a little bit in an industry that has not evolved very much in quite a long time.
Greeting cards are nice and often enjoyable, but their traditional form limits their interactivity.
A company called Artiphany has decided to change that through the use of augmented reality and funding through Kickstarter. It is working to use AR technology to be able to give people the opportunity to send a paper greeting card as they usually will, but to expand its interactive and personalized capabilities so that they can play customizable 3D video messages.
This augmented reality project is also known as Gizmo greeting cards.
The project features Gizmo the robot, who uses augmented reality technology to appear in front of the card’s recipient in order to wish them a happy birthday, a happy holiday, or wish them a speedy recovery, through the use of smartphone technology.
These greeting cards are sold with a selection of different stickers. Once the code on those stickers has been scanned, Gizmo appears through augmented reality and delivers the message on behalf of the sender. As is the case with other AR based features, Gizmo requires the recipient of the card to have a smartphone or tablet, as well as the corresponding app that will allow the animation to play. In this case, it is a third party app called DAQRI that is needed to scan the codes and play the personalized animations.
Artiphany is currently working on gaining enough investors to be able to fund their final round of augmented reality animations, as well as to begin producing T-shirts, 3d models of Gizmo, and the customizeable cards to be sent to its backers.
While greeting cards are an old style and they have not changed much other than attempts such as this new augmented reality project, the industry is still worth up to $8 billion per year. Artiphany is clearly seeing this as an opportunity to carve their own niche in a lucrative market by standing out and providing consumers with something new and interesting.
Mobile commerce may thrive as more consumers get their hands on smartphones
Canadians are becoming more reliant on their smartphones, according to a new report from Google, called “Our Mobile Planet: Canada.” Smartphones have established themselves as a powerful tool for many consumers who use them for business and entertainment. These devices have grown in popularity because they offer many services in a single platform that could only be found in numerous platforms in the past. The report shows that Canadians are more likely to throw away their televisions than part with their smartphones, and this could be a good sign for mobile commerce.
Smartphones continue to gain popularity among consumers
Smartphones initially became popular because they streamlined social interaction and provided consumers with access to a multitude of applications, which themselves made certain tasks more efficient and convenient for users. Today, smartphones and their features are very common and many consumers have become numb to the features they have become accustomed to using on a daily basis. Mobile commerce has managed to rekindle some of the excitement that smartphones had once embodied and many consumers are showing a great deal of interest in shopping online and paying for products with their mobile device.
Report shows that more consumers are participating in mobile commerce
According to Google’s report, approximately 56% of the Canadian population uses a smartphone, with eight in 10 of these consumers claiming they would never leave home without their mobile device. The report shows that most smartphones are used for social media and entertainment, but a growing number of consumers are using their smartphones to shop online. Currently, three-quarters of Canadian smartphone users have used their mobile device to shop online, with 27% purchasing a product using their device. Approximately half of consumers make an online purchase with their mobile device at least once a month.
Despite smartphone adoption, mobile commerce sees modest growth
The report shows that smartphone ownership is on the rise in Canada. This is likely to have a significant impact on mobile commerce in the future as more people with smartphones will take to shopping online. Canada is currently home to several mobile commerce initiatives that are looking to encourage consumers to purchase products with their mobile devices. So far, however, mobile commerce has only experience slow growth throughout the country.
