Internet of things software maker PTC PTC -0.57% has acquired Vuforia from Qualcomm QCOM -0.48% for $65 million, with plans to increase its focus in the IoT and B2B (business to business) world.
“The idea of being able to project a digital experience onto a physical product to figure out how to service it or show operating metrics … is a killer idea.”
For example, imagine pointing your smartphone at your car and being able to see visual warnings that your wiper fluid was running low or your tire pressure was sub-optimal on a rear tire. That’s possible as information gathered by the car’s sensors can be pushed to the cloud, then retrieved and shown in a visual format on the phone. That same format could also offer simple to follow directions on how to fix the problems.
The technology platform provider plans to blend AR tech with the Internet of things.
“I think a lot of companies who make and service [products] want to be able to pass information downstream to consumers,” he says. “[But] rather than a big PDF file, they [now] can say let me augment everything you need to know and nothing more. …
See the full story here: http://fortune.com/2015/10/12/ptc-buys-vuforia-from-qualcomm/