The Fitting Room Is in the Phone
Total Immersion, the French maker of augmented reality software (AR) with U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles, has announced the launch of a new mobile-commerce application that uses AR face tracking to enable consumers to virtually try on eyeglasses and buy frames directly from their phone.
Compatible with the iPhone4, the new app is capable of pulling from the frames inventory of an eyeglasses retailer, allowing consumers to try various styles, send photos to friends through social networks, connect to a map pinpointing the nearest store to buy offline or complete the transaction online.
The new app is adapted from a Web-based AR application that reportedly generated a 50 percent month-on-month traffic increase, with more than 30 percent of visitors using the AR function on the site. Skullcandy, a maker of action sports–tinged headphones, used Total Immersion’s face-tracking software to allow online consumers to “try on” their new line of Roc Nation Aviator headphones. The Web-based version of the app uses a Web camera to track a user’s eyes and displays live footage of the user wearing a 3-D virtual model of the headphones back on the screen. The mobile app uses the same premise but relies on a user’s iPhone4 camera.
“This is the most fully realized mobile-commerce application ever to use augmented reality and the first AR app in the m-commerce space featuring face-tracking technology, newly available on mobile,” said Bruno Uzzan, co-founder and chief executive of Total Immersion, in a statement. “Face tracking is ideally suited to purchases like eyeglass frames, where it’s essential to try before you buy. In this environment, the m-commerce experience is both more convenient and more satisfying for consumers and merchants alike. Product selection is virtually unlimited—and those with corrective lenses can keep them on through the AR fitting.”
According to Uzzan, Total Immersion is the first vendor to deliver high-quality face tracking on the iPhone4 and then integrate that technology in a comprehensive application for m-commerce. “This is just the beginning. Imagine the same environment for trying on jewelry, or even makeup, along with so much more.”—Erin Barajas
