While we are definitely going to have more AR, I'm not convinced that it's the future at all. But I guess that's the case with most people and most technologies until they become ubiquitous.
AR still seems like a solution looking for a problem.
Funny, I've felt the same thing about VR. With AR, I can think of a million practical applications. With any kind of VR that is short of full sensory immersion, I can't think of a single practical use.
> With any kind of VR that is short of full sensory immersion, I can't think of a single practical use.
If you've ever had to use a hardware "simulator" to train on Big Hardware like a plane or submarine, using VR as a replacement is an "obvious win." Rather than dedicated rooms with all sorts of custom fake hardware that only a few people can use at a time, you can buy one classroom full of VR equipment, and then every student can do their simulator runs in parallel, allowing each student far more total simulator-time. As well, to switch to a simulation of newer-model hardware, you just need a new piece of VR software, rather than entire new rooms full of molded plastic and slapshod wiring.
The only games that really appealed to me as a use case for VR are "Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes" and using it as a virtual cockpit for mech/dog fighting sims, otherwise it just seems like a thing I have to have on my head for not much gain.
I think it is used for pornography a fair bit though
AR still seems like a solution looking for a problem.