I've tried a few AR apps - mostly games and come away a bit underwhelmed. For one thing, you have to hold the iPad all the time which is a pain in the wrist!! This makes it awkward to interact with the AR object. I don't know, is this a re-run of 3D TV? Is it just a fad we'll remember in an embarassed thread in five years time?
Augmented Reality in a consumer entertainment space is lagging FAR behind. There are many applications being used today in engineering, training and education, medical, and other fields that are the push for AR technology. Consumer entertainment may take a while to catch on. In the right applications (especially in training) it's
extremely useful.
AR will likely be better on a phone, due to comfort, but it is really nice as a headset. No need to hold something at arms length, and you can do things like showing an arrow in your field of view for the direction to your destination.
I think AR will be better once we get something like the HoloLens but it shrinks down a bit and comes down in price. The demos are interesting, but the price is high.
The glasses are, ultimately, where things are headed, but the phones and iPads are here today. I'm POSITIVE that Apple has started AR on mobile devices, but intends to release connected glasses for future AR. The thing to remember about the glasses, though, is that the intention won't be that someone is wearing them all the time - and that a really good AR experience will be founded on mobile devices. Everyday AR (map directions, visual search, etc.) will be a common phone experience and you will use glasses for special experiences.
Here's the thing - it's (largely, but not exclusively) a shiny object right now. Eventually it will be built into our computing experience and we will barely notice it. Think about GPS and digital directions - it was a novelty when it first started and everybody bought those stand-alone car GPS devices. Today, it's built into our phones and tablets - it's an everyday kind of thing. Virtual Assistants (Siri) will do the same. Even now it's being built into other devices so talking to a computer or device will be just as natural as using a touchscreen or a mouse. By the time AR affordably gets to glasses, we'll have used it on phones, tablets, and other devices and it will be just another mode of technology interaction.
