There are many in the tech industry who believe that augmented reality is the way of the future and how we experience things. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has long lauded the technology, and recently was quoted as saying that he believes one day in the future, no industry will be left untouched by AR technology.
It seems that Mastercard is in agreement because in an announcement by the company, they have teamed up with Saks, ODG, and Qualcomm to launch an AR shopping experience. “This new AR experience from Mastercard will not only let shoppers view digital representations of products before they commit to a purchase, but also learn more about what they are buying, see additional options not available in the physical location and get instant recommendations or other information relevant to their unique experience.”
According to Sherri Haymond, executive vice president, Digital Partnerships, Mastercard, “As the physical and digital worlds blend together, we are focused on developing solutions that provide merchants with the ability to accept payments across all technology platforms possible—in-store, in-app, online, and in AR and VR—to help drive how people will experience shopping and payments in the future.”
Mastercard is definitely not the first to embrace AR shopping as other companies such as IKEA have also launched similar initiatives of their own, where users can use AR to view furniture and place it in their homes to get an idea of how it will look like.
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