We do not talk about Augmented Reality much. Till recent times augmented reality has been a fancy technology for the fancy players in mobile app development. Virtual reality was certainly raising some brows but last week we witnessed a cataclysm.
Niantic, a California based company, launched an augmented reality version of the popular anime Pokemon called Pokemon GO. Interestingly enough Niantic was forged inside the labs of Google which spun out of the structure after the announcement of Alphabet.
Unless you have been living in a hermit cave you’ve probably heard of Pokémon GO and the way is has taken the world by storm. With its augmented reality platform, Pokémon have been appearing everywhere across the globe from ponds and highways to toilet seats and users of the app have spent all weekend trying to catch new Pokémon and train them to be the very best.
It’s now arguably the most popular augmented reality app in history, and has made the augmented technology mainstream.
I know what you are thinking…
“Didn’t Snapchat popularize AR with Snapchat Lenses?”
You bet they did, but it’s a feature, and not a foundation for the app.
“Didn’t Ingress, another AR game (that too from Niantic), arrive before Pokemon GO?”
Yes, but it was never as popular as Pokemon Go. Ingress barely got into the top 50 of the top app rankings on iOS before dropping out afterwards. Have a look at what Pokemon GO is doing.
Nintendo Shares Surge
Since July 7, the stocks of Nintendo (proprietor of the Pokemon games) have risen by a whopping 55.93%. This is purely due to the awe inspiring reactions created by Pokemon GO.
Android Installs: Pokemon GO vs Tinder
On July 8th, only 2 days after the app’s release, it was already installed on 5.16% of all Android devices in the US. If that doesn’t seem like much, consider that by Thursday, July 7th, Pokemon GO was already installed on more US Android phones than Tinder.
Daily Active Users: Pokemon GO vs Twitter
Over 60% of those who have downloaded the app in the US are using it daily, meaning around 3% of the entire US Android population are users of the app. This metric, which we refer to as Daily Active Users has put Pokémon GO neck and neck with Twitter.
Usage Time: Pokemon GO vs Social Media Apps
As of July 8th, the app was being used for an average of 43 minutes, 23 seconds a day, higher than Whatsapp, Instagram, Snapchat, and Messenger.
Finally, with only a few days of data, Pokémon GO has an extremely high app retention rate. This is great news for the app industry as a whole. An engaging tech stack (AR in this case), added to a captivating concept (Pokemon) is all that is needed to build a revolutionary app.
It is all about picking the right track both technology and strategy wise. As an organization working whole heartedly on technology, the success of Pokemon GO does not leave us utterly baffled as we have seen the magic of innovative technologies and have had our hands dug in deep underneath the development of such.
AR is all prepped up and enjoying its walk of fame and there is plenty more to follow and as technology adherents we are waiting with baited breath.
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