Layar First to Provide Direct AR Content Publication Through Third-Party Tools

AMSTERDAM, May 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Layar, the largest open platform in mobile augmented reality (AR), announced at the Augmented Reality Event in Santa Clara that it is moving management and publication of AR content to third parties through its new product, Layar Connect. Layar Connect enables third parties worldwide to build full-service content management systems.

Tools built on top of Layar Connect will open the development of augmented reality experiences to a broader audience and will significantly reduce the cost of creating this content. These tools titled, Layar Creation Tools, allow people without any technical background to create AR experiences in a simple and easy way.

"We're focused on the democratization of augmented reality and want to make it easier to create and publish AR content for all," said Maarten Lens-FitzGerald, Layar co-founder and general manager. "With Layar Connect, we are the first in the industry to move management and publication of AR content to third parties. This creates opportunities for Layar partners to add increased value to their business - a big step in the professionalization of the AR industry."

As more Layar Partners create their own Layar Creation Tools, the development of AR content becomes localized. With that localization, users gain the opportunity to develop AR content and support in their own native language.

Layar Creation tools can be recognized by the Certified Layar Creation Tool badge -- only tools meeting Layar standards are assigned this badge.

    Tools from the following partners have already integrated Layar Connect:
    - BuildAR {http://buildar.com}
    - Poistr {http://www.poistr.com}
    - Visar {http://muzar.org}
    - Poiz {http://poiz.nl}

For more information about Layar Connect and developer requirements, please visit the Layar Development website at http://www.layar.com/development/tools/.

About Layar

Layar is the world's largest mobile augmented reality platform with thousands of developers and over 2,000 layers. Layar brings impactful augmented reality experiences into people's everyday lives through its platform that currently serves over a million active users. The Layar platform is available on Android, iPhone, Symbian and Bada devices, comes globally pre-installed on millions of phones and is promoted by leading handset manufacturers and mobile providers like Samsung, Verizon and Sprint. Layar is located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The company was founded in June 2009. To learn more about Layar, please visit http://www.layar.com.

    Contact:

    Meghan Hughes
    [email protected]
    +31-415-963-2552

SOURCE Layar