3M, an international manufacturing and technology conglomerate, has entered the increasingly competitive arena of augmented reality. The company has developed a new application for iOS mobile devices that takes the idea of post-it notes and turns it digital. The app, fittingly called the Augmented Reality Post-It Application, seeks to bring a more social aspect to leaving notes. Users will be able to leave each other messages, which will not add to the clutter of an office or room as they will be entirely digital.
Using a mobile device’s camera, users can take pictures of themselves and add messages that will appear as dialogue bubbles around their heads. The message can then be embedded on a marker that can adorn a wall or other such surface. When a mobile device equipped with the application is pointed at the marker, the picture will show up with its associated message. 3M believes that this will be a more engaging way of sending messages, though not entirely efficient. The app could be useful for leaving secret messages for others to find, of course.
3M will be showing off the application at this year’s SXSW event in Texas. Shortly after the event, the app will be made available on the Apple App Store. 3M currently does not have plans to make the application available to the Android platform. If it becomes popular, however, the company may be encouraged to bring the application to various other platforms
