Layar Launches First Augmented Reality Content Store

You might be wondering whether "augmented reality" is a feature or a business model. Layar hopes to prove it can be a business model, by introducing an AR content store that allows publishers to offer AR experiences on multiple mobile platforms such as iPhone and Android.

The content store is seamlessly integrated into the Layar "Reality Browser", which is already used on more than 1.6 million mobile devices globally.

The Layar Payment Platform supports multiple payment providers and multiple currencies, ready to serve the different local markets.

Layar deals with legal, administrative and tax rules enabling the publisher to focus on their core activities. The first payment provider is PayPal, supporting payments to residents of United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. More countries, currencies, payment methods and payment providers will be added regularly, the company says.

Publishers can set up accounts at http://site.layar.com/create.

Among the developers that already have signed up are Berlitz City Guides, Mouse Reality for Disney World, UK Sold Prices and Disneyland and EyeTour.

UK sold prices allows users to check the latest UK residential sold price information while users are out and about.  Berlitz helps people experience the city’s highlights: the best attractions, coziest restaurants, most comfortable hotels, coolest places to shop and most fashionable nightlife.

Mouse Reality for Disney World and Disneyland helps users find and navigate all attractions, shows, shops, dinning, transportation, and more in Disneyland and Disney World.

EyeTour helps users explore Puerto using exclusive video content of historical sites, museums, restaurants, parks and more.

Looking ahead, the company believes it can use AR to create a business offering a marketplace for content, services and goods, says Raimo van der Klein, Layar CEO.

Publishers can start selling their content without upfront investments while Layar facilitates payments between the end-user and the publisher. Publishers receive 60 percent of the net proceeds.

Android users who are residents of United States, United Kingdom, Canada or Australia can start buying layers right now after installing the new version of the Layar Augmented Reality Browser. The iPhone update is soon to follow.

Layar describes itself as the world’s leading Augmented Reality Platform on mobile. The Layar Reality Browser currently has more than 1.6 million users and comes pre-installed on tens of millions of phones from leading handset manufacturers and carriers by the end of the year. Over 500 layers are developed by the global community of 3000 Layar publishers.

The free Layar Reality Browser is available on Android devices and iPhone 3GS.

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HTC Incredible Goes On Sale Today at Verizon Wireless

19% CAGR for Tablet Style PCs

Sales of slate-style tablet PCs will grow at a 19-percent compound annual growth rate through 2015, the same rate as smartphones, while Wi-Fi-equipped handsets will grow at about a 21 percent CAGR, say researchers at Coda Research Consultancy.

That forecast could be taken to mean either that the tablet, such as the Apple iPad, really will create a new segment of the consumer electronics market, or that it will cannibalize part of existing markets such as netbooks, notebooks or laptops, or that tablets. In the former case the tablet might replace some parts of the need for e-book readers and netbooks or notebooks; in the latter case the tablet will change the user interface from keys to touchpad.

To be sure, devices such as the iPad could succeed simply by rearranging existing demand. But Apple, for one, seems to have achieved its greatest success when it can create a whole new market or rearrange an existing market. The iPod created a new market, while the iPhone rearranged an existing market.

Coda researchers so far think tablet computers represent the emergence of a new market, and new behaviors.

Consumer usage will tend to be around content consumption rather than creation, and for accessing information. A greater proportion of slates will be shared across household members than notebooks currently are. It is possible, in other words, that although high-end slates might continue to be personal items, as are mobile phones, some lower-end slates might be more like remote controls, used by everybody in a household, and not "owned" by individuals.

Business uses also could arise in healthcare, education, field sales and services, real estate, the insurance industry, and industrial design, Coda believes.

The other likely avenue is use by traveling workers, for the same reason many people now claim they can travel without a PC, and simply use a smartphone. Though the iPad and other tablets will not likely replace the smartphone on trips, many could decide it works well enough to take along as a substitute for the PC, the iPod and the e-book reader.

Nokia to Introduce N8, Using New Version of Symbian

The Nokia N8, Nokia's latest smartphone, using the new Symbian 3 operating system, is designed to challenge the iPhone and BlackBerry at the high end of the market, where Nokia arguably has been struggling.

The Nokia N8 will be available in selected markets from the third quarter of 2010 and comes with an estimated price tag of €370 (about $493) before taxes and subsidies.

The Nokia N8 introduces a 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon flash and a large sensor that rivals those found in compact digital cameras. Additionally, the Nokia N8 offers the ability to make HD-quality videos and edit them with an intuitive built-in editing suite.

Doubling as a portable entertainment center, people can enjoy HD-quality video with Dolby Digital Plus surround sound by plugging into their home theatre system. The Nokia N8 enables access to Web TV services that deliver programs, news and entertainment from channels like CNN, E! Entertainment, Paramount and National Geographic. Additional local Web TV content is also available from the Ovi Store.

Social networking also is featured. People can update their status, share location and photos, and view live feeds from Facebook and Twitter in a single app directly on the home screen. Calendar events from social networks can also be transferred to the device calendar.

The Nokia N8 comes with free global Ovi Maps walk and drive navigation, guiding people to places and points of interest in more than 70 countries worldwide.

Nokia has upgraded its Symbian software to make it more user friendly, a criticism of earlier versions of Symbian.

The Symbian 3 operating system supports features touchscreen commands such as multi-touch, flick scrolling and pinch-zoom, as well as faster multi-tasking, Nokia says.

Will Rogers Introduce Bundled Mobile Broadband Plans?

Canadian wireless provider Rogers apparently is considering giving customers a data plan that would let them use an iPad (or other similar devices) plus mobile phones, on a single access plan,  according to Electronista.

That's the sort of innovation in pricing plans and packaging that seems almost inevitable as people start using multiple wireless devices, and start to rebel against paying separate access fees for every single device they use, especially when some of those devices might not require much bandwidth, while others are used often enough to justify a typical $30 a month plan.

Observers often criticize mobile and other service providers for unimaginative thinking on such matters. Fair or not, one wonders what changes might be in store when fourth-generation Long Term Evolution networks start to enter their marketing phases.

So far, Clearwire has been more experimental than other leading mobile providers. To be fair, it isn't clear how much creativity actually can be brought to bear on the basic access service. But we ought to expect some changes as the types of devices benefiting from mobile access proliferate, and people start using multiple devices.

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Blockbuster Tries to Take Advantage of its 28-Day Release Window Advantage

We should soon see whether Blockbuster's 28-day earlier release window for new release DVDs confers any business advantage over other competitors in the space, especially Netflix and Redbox, as Blockbuster and its studio partners seem to think will be the case.

Blockbuster announced availability of the hit movie, "It's Complicated" from Blockbuster in stores, by mail, or digitally, a full four weeks before it will be available through some competitors.

Blockbuster's early advantage reflects its ongoing agreement with Universal Studios to provide customers with the opportunity to rent hit movies the day they are released. Blockbuster also has early availability of other box office hits like Sherlock Holmes and the highest grossing film of all-time, Avatar, as well as other upcoming new releases such as Tooth Fairy, Valentine's Day, and Invictus.

Blockbuster also has struck deals with mobile handset providers to put the "Blockbuster On Demand" app prominently on the main screens of about 60 models of Samsung Blu-ray Players, HDTVs, and Blu-ray Home Theater Systems, as well as on T-Mobile's HTC HD2.

Blockbuster is the only multichannel provider that has every hot new movie on the day of its release, it's just that simple. What we now shall see is whether that makes a material difference for Blockbuster. Release windows typically have been important in the movie distribution business, so some shift should be seen.

What do you Think of This Google Tablet?

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I don't know what you think, but this Android-powered tablet, if it winds up being a commercial product, does not seem to have the "wow" factor of the Apple iPad.