Layar
Layar develops a mobile augmented reality (AR) browser. The company was started in August 2009 and has forged leadership in the nascent but promising field of augmented reality. The Layar browser application superimposes images, animations, text, links and other digital information on top of real-world objects in the mobile phone camera view. This allows users to visually acquire contextual information from their surroundings. An example of this is that users can see which houses are for sale and for what price in a particular street, simply by pointing the phone’s camera at the object / location. The layer application smartly combines the capabilities of several hardware components found in today’s smart phones: a powerful CPU, a camera, an accelerometer, GPS and a solid state compass.
The company has built an active eco-system around its AR browser by embracing an open platform where third party developers can design their own “Layers” according to the Layar protocol and through the Layar’s API. Layar distributes its AR browser application through several mobile application stores and is pre-installed on a number of smart phone models.