Apple has recently acquired the full stake in Metaio, a German Augmented-Reality (AR) startup that provides software applications in retail, industrial and automotive markets. Metaio's technology is used to create virtual product showrooms by retailers such as IKEA, and in Audi's digital owner's manual and Ferrari's AR showroom app. It has also created visual manuals for repairing complex industrial or automotive equipment.
Augmented Reality combines the real-life situation (environment) with digital content (text, image, video, voice etc) to provide a rich layer of information in real-time, projected via TV displays, smartphones, tablets or dedicated eye-goggles. It differs from virtual reality, which replaces real-world views with more or less completely simulated ones. Potential applications using Metaio's low-power consumption technology could include mobile handsets and/or smart-glasses.
