First Attempts At Augmented Reality Via Apple ARkit Are Coming Out

Apple released its ARkit development package to third-party entities back in June, in order to help them create next-generation augmented reality for Apple products. Now, the first wave of apps created using the ARkit is coming out and many of them are actually quite useful. While some use AR to superimpose pets or cute filters over reality, developers used the ARkit to create apps with more functionality.

Speaking to CNN, VP of Marketing at Apple, Greg Joswiak expresses how much of a big deal these news apps are for the company. More to the point, it would seem that the iPhone maker is betting big that the AR market is going to be huge in the coming years.

"This is this dream of things you wanted to do as far as mixing the digital world into the real world," Joswiak said. "It has so many applications -- from shopping and entertainment to things we haven't even thought about -- but it's been unattainable."

The first few apps that are now available seem to support this statement, seeing as how a lot of them are being used for real-life decisions. There’s the IKEA AR app, for example, which allows users to get a sense of how a particular piece of furniture would look in a space of their home.

Before, customers would have to measure everything with a tape measure or have a rough estimate of the dimensions in their heads. Now, they can just choose a furniture off of IKEA’s store using the AR app and have it superimposed over their living room, bathroom, kitchen, or bedroom.

Then there are sillier options like the video game Arise by Climax Studios, TechCrunch reports. It basically involves building a digital structure on a flat surface like a table, which allows the player’s character to proceed. It involves no traditional control mechanics either.