Despite a lack of market traction App revenues from Augmented Reality (AR) technology in the enterprise will see a tenfold increase by 2019 according to one prediction.
Current revenues of $247m 2014 will increase to $2.4bn in the next 4-5 years.
However, despite the high revenue forecast, a study suggested that uptake of enterprise AR applications would remain low until the end of the decade.
Enterprise head-mounted devices (HMDs), such as Vuzix’s M100 and Daqri’s Smart Helmet, could become the preferred AR device for app use beyond 2019, overtaking smartphones and tablets.
This would be partly due to the hands-free nature of the devices, allowing workers to fully maximise the benefits of AR technology.
In the consumer market Juniper Research expects AR games across smartphones, tablets and HMDs (head-mounted devices) to reach 420 million annual downloads in 2019.
The in-vehicle AR market was also said to be set to expand from 2019 onwards.
"Most enterprise AR apps must be bespoke in order to comply with requirements," said research author Steffen Sorrell. "That presents challenges – entry costs are increased so a return on investment must be assured."
"Despite having been demonstrated to the masses via the medium of film, as well as the fact that the AR concept has spent many years in development, the technology has still not gained significant market traction," an accompanying whitepaper added.