Why Augmented Reality will always be an IM sidekick never a superhero?

I just finished my work on a client's project that included AR (Augmented Reality). To tell you the truth this was an interesting experience. I had to do a research about the content I knew nothing about. Don't worry, I'm not going to bother you with a lecture about the AR. You have Google and Wiki for these educational purposes. In a nutshell, for those who don't have time to do their AR homework, it all comes down to Pokemon Go, more or less. You take some digital/cyber/Internet elements and you find them a place in the real life. You probably remembered how convenient it is to see text and images about shops and restaurants as you walk down the street with the smartphone in your hand as your guide. Well, that is it. Now, the big question, what can AR do for Internet Marketing?

Again, to be quite honest I took the advantage of my client's appreciation for my interest in this subject. He's an experienced marketer who just built a new section on his website dedicated to a new AR service. I did the content part and this was how I became the part of this AR story. We used an example of kids using the AR in Lego stores. It is really great to take a box of Lego building blocks and get it near the smart device, which gives you a real-life image of a toy you are very likely to end up with after a couple of hours of hard work. Obviously, my client had an idea to attract new clients. So, I was so enthusiastic about it. Probably, this is a cliche reaction for every AR newbie. Right?

My client advised me to hold my horses. Why? Although it sounds great in theory the AR will never be a revolutionary tool for IM, but rather an exciting but limited episode. What's the problem? Just imagine how many wonderful things we can do with the Augmented Reality elements for Internet Marketing. Unfortunately, the technology itself isn't the problem. The good old ugly human nature has found a way to actually get in the way of significant AR infiltration in the IM field. My client used an opportunity to remind me about the sad fiasco story we experienced with Google Glasses. Some people were attacked in the middle of the street because this AR tool has been perceived as a serious threat to our privacy. I know that's another topic to discuss, but to worry about privacy in our brave new cyber world is both pointless and ridiculous.

Yet, the pressure of privacy concerns is so strong that the AR daily applications are seriously limited and controlled all the time. I totally understand the frustration of AR pioneers. They are simply losing an interest in investing their time and efforts in something that's going to be limited and condemned even before it reaches its full application potential. So, this battle was lost even before it has officially begun. Yes, you can prove me wrong by saying that there are wonderful and heartbreaking examples where AR was successfully implemented for IM purposes. True. But, it is also true that you aren't going to be too busy mentioning all of these examples. By now, we should have an AR epidemic in the IM, but that simply didn't happen. And, here we are wasting a beautiful concept for chasing Pokemons all over the city. I told you, Augmented Reality will always a sidekick in the Internet Marketing story, but never a true IM superhero. So sad, but true.