Augmented Reality is much discussed at the moment and its implementations are ranging from entertaining (albeit gimmicky) to unnerving to incredibly useful. We were curious to know what impact its use will have on the relationship between the Internet and business, so we asked a few (very) smart people what their thoughts were and are hoping you will share yours as well.

Just to get the basics out of the way, Augmented reality (AR) (according to Wikipedia) is "a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with (or augmented by) virtual computer-generated imagery - creating a mixed reality. Augmented reality research explores the application of computer-generated imagery in live-video streams as a way to expand the real-world."

There are quite a few examples of its use, but here's how something as simple as a business card can take on a vastly different form:

AR Business Card from James Alliban on Vimeo.

Other examples (although there are many) include Ikea's app to make it possible for people to preview furniture in their homes and Dorito's putting AR functionality on their packaging. In terms of looking to the future, Matthew Buckland and Phillip Langley created the concept drawings below as a way to illustrate what is possible.

A concept drawing by Matthew Buckland and Phillip Langley on possible applications of Augmented Reality. Used with permission. See the excellent source post here. 

So back to our question - when the sophisticated implementations become more commonplace, or even before this, what will the greatest impact of augmented reality be on the way businesses view the Internet?

I got hold of Marshall Kirkpatrick, the VP of Content Development and Lead Blogger on ReadWriteWeb after reading his post, “Layar Could be the future of augmented reality” and he had this to say:

I think that the biggest way that AR could change the way business views the internet is this:Location-based AR offers data tied to a specific place. Many business owners believe that transactions go on in a place and the web is an antagonistic nether-world somewhere else (think Yelp). When these two come together, businesses will have to reconsider the balance between fooling their would-be customers or convincing and empowering them with helpful data.

You could learn a lot about your neighbours. Image by Matthew Buckland and Phillip Langley, used with permission.

Rolf R. Hainich is the author of The End of Hardware: A Novel Approach to Augmented Reality and when asked this questions, he shared the following sentiments:

I think the greatest topic here is an increase in location awareness, i.e. delivering data according to the position of the user, delivering also guidance data, showing you if a shop nearby carries certain goods and so on.

More delicate will be the use of personal AR devices replacing all of current PC technology, You may carry your own mobile phone together with your employer's, but if at work, will you change your goggles for company supplied ones? Or will the company apps run in a virtual machine inside your glasses? And what about personal life recording- future AR devices will serve as our personal memory and organization machines, but employers are allergic against camera mobiles already. 'Allergic' puts it the right way: They are exchanging unencrypted e-mails, travelling with notebooks carrying the entire company literally - also unencrypted - all round the globe, but they worry about a photo of their coffee machines. Any time I tried to convince anybody in business to use PGP (that I used now and then since my first 5 MHz diskette based DOS PC), it was completely in vain. However, while your competition may not be able to read your mails, the NSA surely is.

So in any case, lots of justified and also paranoid fears and expectations will have to be sorted out. Then we could use AR for really efficient remote working, paperless or even virtual office and world wide instant meetings. The total 3D experience will make this work in a finally acceptable way. All of these location independent but location aware applications will be based on the web (including sub webs, VPN's).

Other implications: While Second life is just a distributed game, similar structures could be woven into the real world, resulting in virtual stores in real places for example, and a lot more. So businesses will have to be very creative in developing new idea - ensuring their presence in the world of virtual location based information added to real things all over the place.

This has begun already of course, simply look at the hotel and restaurant ads in Google Earth... 

When I asked Lukas Zinnagl, the author of Twin Towers seen once via augmented reality post, the same question, he responded with the following:

AR definitely has the potential of being one of the "next big things". Ubiquitous smartphones with AR capabilities are a first step in leveraging this technology. A major aspect from a businesses’ point of view, in the long term, is that this is a potential new revenue stream and interaction stream for them. It also closes the gap between online and offline. This also implies potential new business models which are on the verge of on and offline.

Besides Layar there is one major company striving from Austria, www.mobilizy.com, that seeks to be a big player in this field. Especially their proposition of a international standard protocol for AR apps is appealing to me. Similiar to now established web standards, there also needs to be future AR standards in order to establish cross-platform alliances and thus further business implications.

The biggest impact of AR seems to be in merging online and offline - integrating digital possibilities more thoroughly into our daily lives (and specifically in terms of our location).

Now, dear readers, I want to know what YOU think. What do you think the greatest impact of augmented reality will be on the way businesses (or brands) view the Internet?  What are the best examples you've seen?

Also check out:

• Friday Fact Box - Mobile Use
  
• Chris Rolfe on What You Can Do With Mobile
  
• Getting Mobile Right - Some Examples