No future for AR without "community"
Hello! My name is Hiro. I am in charge of Developer Success at Pretia Technologies, Inc.
We have developed the Pretia AR Developer Platform, a service that only a few companies in the world provide and that is equipped with proprietary research and development of VPS (Visual Positioning System) and multi-player technology. We are providing the Pretia AR Developer Platform globally, except in the EU . My role is then to do this and that to increase the number of users all over the world.
With the age of AR-first UX in full swing in the next few years and the AR market expected to reach $350 billion by 2028, we are developing and marketing daily to become the service behind the AR experience around the world.
In this issue, we will introduce the most important aspect of the future of Pretia Technologies, Inc., and, by extension, AR: the community.
The future of the AR market will be driven by "community”
The word "community" originally meant "commune" or "neighborhood." McKeever, a political scientist and sociologist, defined it in 1917 as "a form of union in which place and space are shared; an autochthonous community life by geographical ties."
In the days when physical distance was absolute, the expression was often used in reference to the place where one lived or worked, but in the modern age of the Internet, it is more often used to refer to people who are connected by the same hobbies, tastes, and interests.
Each community has different members depending on its purpose and the background from which it was born.
Speaking of Pretia, the community we are aiming for is "a community of developers who are using the Pretia AR Cloud Platform to develop AR.
But that is not the community that Pretia is really aiming for.
Although the concept of AR has been around for about 60 years since its birth, there are still areas where the technology has not yet matured, and technical research is being conducted around the world, including by Pretia's R&D team.
In addition, social implementation has only just begun, and few have yet reached the masses. In other words, engineers developing AR are repeating the world's most advanced trial-and-error process. This means that…
The community that Pretia is aiming for is not limited to a single service called Pretia but is a place where innovations are born to spread AR around the world. In other words, it is "a place where innovation is born to make AR rich and enjoyable for society."
By exchanging the results of trial and error, knowledge can be stored and a kind of collective knowledge can be created. It is also easier to generate new ideas by making connections between AR and another industry or organization.
In recent years, services often used by creators such as Figma, Notion, and Blender have developed into a culture, not just a service, by having a strong user community to share how they use, create, and how their creations are also very useful.
For AR, which is a new area, we believe that a community of developers is essential to spreading the culture of using AR.
In other words, putting "community first" will help create the future of the AR market and Pretia Technologies together.
Pretia's vision of community
Pretia would like to create a cycle of connection, idea generation, development, experience, and knowledge sharing within the community. First, we plan to prepare and hold events to provide the following within a year.
Developer connections
Connections between AR and other domains
Trying out new technologies and AR experiences
Mutual sharing of trial and error results and knowledge
In addition, AR technology is good at non-verbal communication, so we will expand it beyond national borders and language barriers, and even outside of Japan, within 1-2 years.
What we have implemented so far
Pretia is currently in the process of…
Creating industry news summary content
Writing technical content
Organizing hands-on events
Providing technology for external events
Ongoing management of Discord community
At first, due to the stage of the product and the expansion of functions (no iOS app, etc.), we started with a project for users of the Pretia AR Cloud Platform as a first step, not for AR in general.
We will curate a collection of industry news to read, provide internal knowledge, and create an opportunity for people to develop AR with hands-on and technological offerings. This is what it looks like.
Although we are still lacking in providing value to our community members, thanks to the increase in the number of community members and users of Pretia, we are starting from zero and gradually building momentum.
What's Next?
The next 2–3 years are the most important for the social implementation of AR.
With the emergence of hardware to popularize AR and the development of software like Pretia, it will be easier than ever for people to experience AR.
As a community, Pretia's mission is to “generate community traction and expand it globally".
Just now, we are contemplating concrete actions for the aforementioned "ideal."
Policies that create connections among developers
Meetups and online social events
Measures to create connections between AR and other areas
Hackathons in collaboration with other industries
Trying out new technologies and AR experiences
Opening of Pretia Showroom
Conducting device trial sessions
Mutual sharing of trial and error results and knowledge
Translation of English content
Conducting mokumoku-kai and LT meetings
There are many things we would like to do to popularize AR and create a convenient and entertaining society.
We’re hiring!
To create the future of AR, we need friends.
If you are interested in "directly making the world more convenient and enjoyable" and "doing it on a global scale," let's talk! We also welcome those who just want to take a quick look around!