In this model, a tablet or smartphone becomes the window into an augmented view of the user’s surroundings. “This has been around a while, but today’s buzzword for it is Pokémon Go,” Turner says. This is the most accessible form of augmented reality since most people are carrying a device with them all the time and understand how to use the device’s camera as a viewfinder.
The technology can be incorporated into an event app, for example to trigger experiences around a venue, or it can be done as a standalone experience on preconfigured devices. “We did a project at a show with U.P.S. a few years ago where we had iPads in a carousel and guests could pick one up and move it around the booth, almost as a secret decoder, to reveal content in the booth. The customer was holding it and owning the experience,” Turner says.