Pick up any sci-fi movie, book or game from the last ten years and for sure you will find some Augmented reality elements there. There is no doubt that some of these elements will be brought to life in the nearest future because AR is too cool to be abandoned and left as a sci-fi concept.
Augmented Reality has expected challenges such as hardware, AR devices, and AR development prices.
But every new technology faces them, so there is no need to focus on oblivious things. It's just a matter of time when requirements can be fit by possibilities.
Let's talk about real challenges for AR.
Public rejection
New technology often finds rivals in society. Some people believe that the golden age is here and now, and any step further in progress is too risky. Even now you can see people fighting against common things, such as:
Mobile phones because of cancerogenic radiation.
Bank Cards because of lack of security.
Games because they make us stupid.
Cars because of pollution.
And so on.
In some cases they make sense, in others, they blow it out of proportion.
If you wonder what happened to Google Glass - you should know that it was an epic fail. The first AR glasses lost their first fight but the war isn't over. Another argument we often hear is that Augmented Reality development is expensive, though literally, every product takes money to make.
As time will pass, augmented reality will overcome this social stigma because:
People will get used to AR by using it via smartphones and tablets.
Augmented reality has wide fields of use in a large number of industries.
AR will prove to the public its own usefulness.
Legacy and safety
AR finds resistance even under government's eyes. Some countries ban AR apps or games on their territory for various reasons: civilian health risks, censure, information safety and security issues, etc..
While some challenges like censure, can't be overcome by AR itself, others may be met in the future. In the case of Pokemon Go AR content experience via smartphone and people focusing on the geo-map, showed a percentage of injuries and even death.
Glasses may easily solve a problem by overlaying augmented reality content over useR's visions.
But a number of Digital content should be limited in order to not end like in Keiichi Matsuda's HYPER-REALITY.
Conclusion
As AR brings amazing benefits in Commercial use, there is no technical problem that can't be solved in future. The real challenge for AR is to prove to society its safety and usefulness.
Alex Volski
Over 10 years in software engineering with a passion for mobile and augmented reality development. Since 2011 a product manager at ThinkMobiles, now sharing experience and assisting ambitious new business projects.