IKEA partners with Apple to deliver new AR app

Apple and IKEA are understood to be working together to deliver an AR (Augmented Reality) app that will allow customers to preview how products will look in their own homes.

IKEA's digital transformation manager Michael Valdsgaard, told Swedish website Digital.di, "This will be the first augmented reality app that allows you to make reliable buying decisions."

Customers will be able to take photos of the inside of their homes and use the app to position images of IKEA products wherever they would like to see them. Valdsgaard said users will be able to position products with millimetre precision and sizing of the products will be fully to scale. In time, customers may also be able to try out the products and then order them through the app.

The existing IKEA catalog app lets you do this now, but with limited accuracy. With the current app, you can click on a piece of furniture and see it superimposed over whatever your camera is currently pointed at. It also allows you to drag the furniture around the room and get an idea of what it might look like. But Valdsgaard says the new app will be better with the help of Apple's technology and experience with AR.

IKEA isn't the only retail company with AR shopping experiences. Both Lowe's and Pottery Barn have apps that let you get an idea of how furniture and appliances will look in your home. Lowe's even uses AR to help customers navigate their stores and VR to give lessons on how to successfully complete certain home improvement projects.

Read - Lowes introduces Lowes Vision

Valdsgaard says they would like to have the app available by the iOS 11 debut, but that it may not be possible. IKEA expects to have 500-600 products available on the app at launch.

Source: Insight Team

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