augmented reality

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have become the cool must-haves for industrial technology vendor keynotes. I have lost count of the times we’ve watched someone on stage as they swoosh and swoop through jet engines, nuclear reactors, sunken wrecks, and the like. We ooh and we ah, and then we wonder if these […]

Forrester just released a new report on mobile and new technology priorities for marketers, based on our latest global mobile executive survey. We found out that marketers: Fail to deliver on foundational mobile experiences. Consumers’ expectations of a brand’s mobile experience have never been higher. And yet, 58% of marketers agree that their mobile services […]

In a major new research report, The Technology-Augmented Employee, I take on a problem that’s vexing CIOs and government leaders alike. In aggregate, US companies face a productivity paradox: Despite billions of dollars invested in technology, growth in employee productivity has slowed since 2004. Even though global technology spending will for the first time pass […]

Digital retail theater is becoming reality for consumers as retailers rush to find ways of attracting and retaining store customers.  What is digital retail theater?  It’s the combination of original retail theater – entertainment, novelty, and engagement – with digital technologies and services to create the next level of in-store experience.  My colleague, Brendan Miller […]

I just published a new report to help marketers benchmark the mobile tactics and technologies their B2C marketer peers use and are planning to use in the next 12 months. The key findings are as below: Marketers Misuse Mobile Marketing Tactics B2C marketers often focus too much on piloting the latest mobile shiny object (see […]

As the product development process and product usage creates higher volumes of data, PLM is a necessary tool to consolidate disparate sources of product information. From this repository, engineering can use product usage data to inform next generation products, operations can improve product development processes, and business stakeholders can focus on linking products to holistic […]

Within 24 hours of its launch, Pokémon Go broke app download records and user numbers began multiplying by the minute. It wasn’t long before mysterious names like “Jigglypuff” and “Squirtle” peppered daily conversation, stampedes of mobile-obsessed gamers became commonplace, and augmented reality approached a tipping point. The future arrives faster than we think. Our latest […]

This a guest post by Meredith Cain, a Research Associate on the Application Development & Delivery (AD&D) team. Let’s take trip back to 1989. One of the big movies of that year was “Back to the Future: Part II.” One of the great things about that movie was its view of the future—or, because so much […]

Since Mobile World Congress, where the reality on the show floor was often either virtual or augmented, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the practical uses of AR and VR – particularly in government and a smart city context. It’s not just all fun and games, is it? The example of changing a roller […]

If you’re one of my regular readers, you may remember a post from August 2015 – “The Future Of Retail Is Digital” – in which I highlight key findings from a report on the future of retail experience. One recommendation was that retailers should begin to experiment with augmented and virtual reality technology early, so […]

Presenting and hosting a panel on digital transformation at this year's CES gave me the opportunity to wander the 2 million square feet of exhibit space and assimilate some of the changes coming our way: Welcome To The Age Of Invention. For me, the most exciting aspect of CES is the sheer volume of innovative, […]

I've just released a major new report on Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented And Virtual Reality Should Be Part Of The Innovator's Toolkit. My research finds that it's time to give AR and VR their due consideration when solving business problems involving either workers or for customer interactions. AR and VR technologies […]

What lies ahead for the retail store? Yesterday, Forrester published a report that predicts the answers to key questions about the future of the retail store: Which digital technologies currently on the periphery of the store environment will make the leap to the sales floor? How will retailers know which technologies have potential and which […]

This is my last, "I saw this cool thing in mobile today" blog for the week. Check out this video.  The video is called "Field Trip" and shows off some of the features of Google's Field Trip app. It's a short, but extremely compelling video that shows how mobile can be used to personalize your […]

My colleague Reineke Reitsma recently published a blog on the limited but growing uptake of QR/2D barcodes. Let’s face reality. Usage is low and marketing execution is poor to date, with too many campaigns that lack a clear consumer benefit and that provide a bad user experience by not offering mobile-optimized content. Today, mobile bar […]

It's me. I was in Macy's last Saturday morning checking out the augmented reality (AR) app, "Believe Magic." I got a lot of stares. At one point, I had a small audience as I danced about and took photos with Macy holiday characters ("Yes, Virginia" characters) that only I could see on my phone. What I […]

Mobile apps are undoubtedly cool, and executives at leading online retailers have been mandating a presence of their brand in the Apple and Android app stores, but eBusiness professionals must focus on building a cohesive mobile strategy that clearly identifies the case and role for apps within their organizations. Apps are great ways to engage […]

Google’s product strategists just announced the launch of Google Wallet — an NFC-based mobile payment solution. As my colleague Charlie Golvin pointed out, this is another early salvo in what will be a long and hard-fought battle to change consumers’ payment behavior and, as a potential result, the makeup of the payments landscape. We have […]

Is mobile AR overhyped? Yes. First of all, the technology is not new at all. It is simply moving from PC and industrial environments to a marketing and mobile context. Let’s face the reality: for now it is primarily used by brands willing to launch innovative mobile services and in search of a “wow” effect. […]