Ambarish Mitra was living in a vast slum in the Southerly areas of Munirka, Delhi. Once 17 years old, ambitious, and preoccupied with the rise of the internet, Mitra is now head honcho at Blippar – the world’s leading visual discovery app, harnessing augmented reality and image-recognition technology to bring the physical world to life through smartphones.
Blippar’s latest project was a timely one. They decided to harness their augmented reality technology and bring all Bank of England banknotes to life to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II becoming the nation’s longest serving monarch. People can use their smartphones to harness the powerful technologies of the app and ‘blipp’ (scan) any Bank of England note with their smartphones to watch videos, view image galleries and take a journey through the Queen’s record 63 years on the throne.
The app works fluidly and Blippar’s interface has always been compellingly easy to use, necessitating only a small amount of tech know-how to ‘blip’ items. Once it has engaged with the banknote, Blippar works seamlessly and, anyone with access to a banknote, or even an online image of one, can view specially created content, including the Queen’s most memorable moments, a guide to Her Majesty’s illustrious ancestry and the opinions of Britons on their much loved monarch. As the world’s leading discovery app, coupled with the power of its augmented technologies to connect you to the unseen world, Blippar successfully uses a simple interface to connect you to a layered universe of monarchical facts.
The app does well to not over saturate the amount of layered content that is delivered to you after ‘blipping’. As well as being able to view exclusive content of the Queen, the app – when it blips a banknote – triggers a pre-programmed augmented reality on the device that also enables the user take a ‘selfie’ with Her Majesty, find out how royal they are and, most importantly, donate to six charities the Queen is patron to.
Blippar have always succeeded in nurturing users’ freewill for apps; furthermore, they provide scope for the user to interact with objects in the way that they choose. Whether it be educational, comical or simply to get a selfie, there’s something available for every demographic. Blippar gives us the chance to go from onlookers to actually participating in the conversation or, in this case, the celebrations. This can only be a good thing.
Verdict
An innovative blend of intelligent app development that works without hindrance to coincide with the Queen’s celebrations – culturally and technologically rich.