Layar, Wikitude duel to become augmented reality browser of choice
Layar, which overlays data such as real estate and job listings on real-world buildings when you look at them through a smartphone camera, is making a bid to become the augmented reality browser of choice for developers.
SPRXMobile, the Dutch company behind the browser, is releasing an application programming interface to 50 companies around the world. (Developers can apply here.) Austrian augmented reality company Mobilizy will make a similar move next week by releasing an API and allowing users to add their own tags through a Google Maps-like interface.
Both companies have limited data sets feeding into their browsers at this point and are looking to the developer community to add more features. Layar’s browser offers real estate listings, job listings and local guide recommendations among its five ”layers.” Wikitude has geotagged Wikipedia entries and nearby food and local business listings scraped from Qype, a Yelp-like recommendation site based in Europe.
I covered both Layar and Wikitude in a recent overview of augmented reality startups.
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About the Author, Kim-Mai Cutler
Kim-Mai was born and raised a stone's throw from Apple headquarters in Cupertino by a devout Hewlett-Packard family. After attending UC Berkeley, Kim-Mai worked for Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires in New York, Los Angeles, London and Buenos Aires. Follow her on Twitter at @kimmaicutler, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
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