Facebook opened up its AR Studio platform for Indian developers and marketers to jump right in. It seems that the lure of bringing AR experiences to 1.5 billion users was too great to resist. By opening its doors to Indian developers, Facebook is trying to get ahead in the ongoing, yet still infant AR race.
While some companies make strides towards perfecting the AR headset hardware, Facebook forges its own path. The company is looking to improve the AR Studio platform, and at the same time increase the number of users. India was recognized as the holy land for both of these aspirations. With the 1.5 billion user base there, Facebook is looking at spreading AR experiences into a technologically fertile ground.
India is an emerging market, both economically and technologically. It is ‘one of the fastest growing markets in terms of consumers using augmented reality effects and developers building these effects’, -Facebook’s Head of platform Partnership for India and South Asia, Satyajeet Singh points out. All those people having access to Facebook camera means a lot of activity in creating AR experiences and effects. Adding to this, Facebook was beckoned into the Indian market by multiple independent developers who made a great use out of AR Studio. Updating their platform at least once every fortnight, Facebook is serious about their craft. As such, the company recognized India’s vast market potential.
‘We are giving creators and developers power to build for tomorrow with emerging technologies like AR without using any expensive hardware or specialized apps’, Singh goes on. Related to this is another one of Facebook’s smart market moves. Namely, the company is releasing a Windows version of its AR Studio. This essentially means that, very much in the spirit of Facebook, their users will be able to create AR experiences regardless of whether they are knowledgeable in coding or not. ‘We are focusing on making sure that AR Studio is capable and easy enough for people from different walks of life’. AR Studio Windows support is coming to India, and also to other markets that have sought it out.
Facebook AR Studio has proven its worth as a platform for creating AR experiences that are versatile just as they are useful. L’Oreal is just one example of perfect blend between Facebook camera and a company’s marketing creativity. Also in India, the AR Studio is already bearing fruit. The AliveNow digital company created effects to help Future Group shoppers and global brands such as MasterCard with a quicker checkout. Fox Star Studious is also not letting the opportunity pass and has teamed up with SuperFan.ai fan management studio. The idea is to bring movie characters to life allowing people to step inside their shoes.
The AR experiences are not only open to everyone to enjoy, but also to create. If Last year’s move opened the door for the third-party developers to tinker with Facebook AR Studio, spreading to Indian market signals the widespread appeal and acceptance of Augmented Reality as an emerging technology covering all spheres of life.
