Education, retail, automotive, and medical are just a few of the industries ripe for disruption through use of augmented reality technology. AR technology has matured, the AR ecosystem has evolved with an increasing number of startups and platforms, and AR companies are focusing on industry-specific problems. AR isn’t the same early stage industry it was five years ago. Augmented reality startups are early stage companies in an early stage industry.With AR & cloud computing having similar trajectories on the Hype Cycle (after their Peak position), why has AR struggled to attract capital investment to date? Here are a few thoughts:

AR’s slower buildup to the Peak and quick entrance into the Trough Cloud computing stayed near or at the top of Peak of Inflated Expectations for two years vs.From 2011 – 2013, augmented reality has trailed cloud computing’s position on the Hype Cycle by approximately a year.The data from Gartner highlights a few interesting observations: Where things get interesting (and somewhat confusing) is when you match up augmented reality against cloud computing on Gartner’s Hype Cycle (below). 2014 is also projected positioning.Ĭloud computing technology has been deployed by larger tech players (Amazon, Rackspace, Cisco, etc.), features a diverse ecosystem of well-funded startups, and even has the Bessemer Ventures Cloud Computing Index tracking the leading public cloud computing companies. Though cloud computing has still been thought of as a fad, it’s clear that cloud computing is attracting massive amounts of venture capital. What doesn’t sync with augmented reality’s position on Gartner’s Hype Cycle are two triggers that generally happen when companies slide down from the Peak of Inflated Expectations - Industry Consolidation and Second/Third Rounds of Venture Capital Financing.įor comparison, cloud computing’s positioning from 2008 – 2013 is also featured on Gartner’s Hype Cycle below. AR’s projected positioning on the Hype Cycle for 2014 is also included.ĪR has gone through its “PR Cycle,” and now companies are taking advantage of next-generation technologies to build more powerful AR platforms. Below is a graph showing AR’s position on the Hype Cycle from 2008 – 2013. Augmented reality has been featured on the Hype Cycle since 2008, and Gartner releases an annual update to the Hype Cycle showing how close technologies are to high growth adoption.

Gartner hype cycle 2013