28 Jul 2023
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Mike Boland
AWE Talks: Boosting AR’s Adoption Curve By Flattening its Learning Curve
AWE USA 2023
Welcome back to AWE Talks, our series that revisits the most engaging content from AWE’s catalog of conference sessions. Now that AWE USA 2023 has concluded, we have a fresh batch of sessions to dive into.
This week, we spotlight concepts and strategies to bring AR to the masses. Qualcomm's Steve Lukas breaks down current barriers and ways to flatten AR's learning curve through familiar input models.
See the summarized takeaways below, along with the full session video. Stay tuned for more video highlights each week and check out the full library on awe.live and AWE’s YouTube Channel.
Speakers
Steve Lukas, Qualcomm
– Bringing AR to the mainstream is no easy task, as shown over the past decade.
– Qualcomm is one company at the vanguard of this battlefield.
– Its Snapdragon chip variants power a who's who of AR (and VR) devices
– Moreover, its Snapdragon Spaces developer platform lowers XR creation barriers.
– Beyond all these products is a key principle that drives Qualcomm's XR efforts.
– That principle is defined by actions like democratizing and lowering XR friction.
– For example, "AR as a Feature" positions AR to piggyback on mobile apps
– In other words, AR is an added feature to well-established mobile experiences.
– AR in this sense can represent optional and additive companion experiences.
– AR glasses are likewise reframed as immersive peripherals for mobile devices.
– This takes the burden off AR to establish its own market in early stages.
– It can instead piggyback on mobile scale for both developers and users.
– 3D apps built on Unity are prime candidates for such experiences.
– According to Lukas, another key component of this approach is familiar inputs.
– For example, a smartphone can act as a controller for AR glasses.
– Rather than training users en masse on new inputs, it builds on established behavior.
– The bottom line is to boost AR's adoption curve by flattening its learning curve.
For more color, including lots of fun easter-egg cultural references from Lukas, see the full video below. 
