AR is the Future of Bookselling

This content has been archived. It may no longer be accurate or relevant.

From Good EReader:

Augmented reality is the hot new trend and many developers are focusing on the gaming aspect. I think with the advent of the new Intel Vaunt and similar products, AR will not only be the future of shopping, but bookselling.

. . . .

They’re just regular old prescription or non-prescription glasses you would wear during the day and charge at night. There’s not a computer attached to your head or some weird bulky attachment to your existing glasses. They pair with your smartphone, which will keep costs low. Intel has stated that they are not going to market the glasses directly to consumers, but will partner with a firm to bring them to market, likely Amazon.

. . . .

I think the future of shopping in bookstores will be with AR glasses. When you walk into your average bookshop such as Amazon Books, Barnes and Noble or Indigo Books and Music there are precious few books that are front facing and the rest are stacked side by side. How do you know if a book is new, old, or highly rated?  I can imagine a day when your glasses will customized features for bookstore shopping, such as reviews that float over a book with the GoodReads API framework and clicking on a virtual review will give you everything you need to know.

Link to the rest at Good EReader

PG wonders whether anyone will be physically walking in to a structure at a fixed location with AR glasses. He bets Amazon (or a future Amazon competitor) will have incredible virtual bookstores you can walk through wherever you are with your AR glasses (or AR helmet or AR bodysuit). Alexa will probably be walking around Amazon’s AR bookstore, too, reminding people that their timers have expired.

13 thoughts on “AR is the Future of Bookselling”

    • @ DaveMich

      The heck with MaryJane. For truly augmented reality, it’s LSD all the way…

      OK, mebbe ‘shrooms or peyote. Or all three, together simultaneously! 🙂

  1. “AR is the Future of Bookselling”

    So another type of fancy cover? 😛

    If you think about it, you’re already using ‘AR’ when shopping online (it’s not really there is it?)

    Because ‘AR’ would not itself be a ‘book’ or ‘reading a book’ I’m not sure why they point this at bookselling, I could do everything they’re suggesting with a well planned out website. (if you need virtual reality to see/find things in the store, then why not virtually go to the shop from the comfort of your home?)

    • if you need virtual reality to see/find things in the store, then why not virtually go to the shop from the comfort of your home?

      I do all online shopping from home because I like the big screen. I won’t even bother with a smart phone for online purchases.

      If glasses could deliver the same size “screen,” with a navigation system, the home advantage would disappear.

      Like all these things we will see different tastes and preferences. People will take the option they like.

      But, I imagine we will also see cops ticketing people for driving with glasses.

      • “If glasses could deliver the same size “screen,” with a navigation system, the home advantage would disappear.”

        Other than the drive to the store. 😉

        And walking into or being walked into by somebody not seeing you in their glasses.

        (Hint, since ‘VR’ is overused/overrated, they’ve just gone to calling it ‘AR’ …)

  2. I just bought a novel from an author whose work I just discovered, whom I like. Amazon said it was for “Kindle in Motion.” I followed the recommended path on my several-years-old Fire, and it was not “in motion” and that path didn’t exist. I wish if they want to sell novels with enhanced content, Amazon would indicate which devices do and do not support that content.

  3. This time last year all anyone in the gaming and entertainment industry could talk about was VR. Right up until Gabe Newell said, “VR could turn out to be a complete failure.” All of a sudden everyone from Samsung to Valve backed way the hell off. All the ‘VR only’ games started getting regular releases and everyone stopped talking about it. At this point, VR is dead. Just 4 years ago, Facebook paid billions for Occulus. This is how fast the industry changes. Not that I wouldn’t love AR. But I ain’t holding my breath.

    • Part of VR’s problem is in giving users headaches and motion sickness. (Mostly because of eye tracking and the slight delays between turning your head and the view starting to turn.) And any turn of the head or shift of the eyes will change what this ‘AR’ thinks you’re trying to look at. (So how are you going to read the data without moving your eyes? 😉 )

      Which is why the gamers like those games they can run on three or more displays, the displays stay stable when their heads turn.

      Right now you can sit in your easy chair and let your mouse/trackball/pointing device hover over something you’re interested in, much easier than having to stand in a narrow isle staring and a narrow little space on a shelf and trying to keep your eyes from roaming as you wait for the system to give you more data on something.

  4. One fine day, AR will be as ubiquitous as the mobile phone is now because it will be able to integrate with everyday life.

    VR on the other hand, relies on almost 100% immersion. You can’t be fighting orcs while you walk to work or drive your car…Well, you can, but you won’t get very far before you’re hit by a bus, or arrested. 🙂

    Sadly, neither tech is quite ready yet. Once it is though, AR will be pushed by advertising, and VR will be championed by the porn industry, closely followed by social media and gaming.

    Interesting times ahead. 🙂

Comments are closed.