Amsterdam-based augmented reality pioneer Layar says it’s adopting a new focus on ‘interactive print’, making it easier for businesses to bring multimedia interactivity to advertisements, packaging and other printed material.
The company launched a augmented reality mobile browser in 2009, superimposing internet-based information on top of real-world images shown by the camera in a smartphone. It’s recently passed 25 million downloads.
In a blog post, Layar CEO Quintin Schevernels said “We want to lead innovation in Interactive Print. We believe that now is the time to add interactivity to print. With over 25 million downloads of the Layar App and the early adoption of the Layar Creator, we are in a very strong position for this. However, the possibilities of Interactive Print are for a lot of companies still a big unknown. Therefore we will do additional investments in marketing, business development and customer service to create awareness for Interactive Print and help customers get started.”
The changes to Layar will result in two of the company’s co-founders leaving and an end to development of the virtual graffiti app Stiktu.
Layar launched an online self-service print industry tool called Layar Creator three months ago and has subsequently seen over 15,000 Creator accounts created.