September 26 2016 • Issue 16:09:02

Drive retail business with augmented
      reality – think Pokémon Go

By Patti Murphy                                               the app more frequently than they were checking their
                                                              Facebook accounts. By late August the number of active
P okémon Go took the world by storm in the sum-               players had dropped to 30 million, but that still exceeded
              mer of 2016, and while the mad rush of players  daily engagement on Twitter, experts noted.
              may have begun to subside, that does not sug-
              gest this phenomenon was a flash in the pan.    Analysts at the brokerage Needham & Company LLC
Pokémon Go is a mobile exploration game that illustrates      calculated in August that the ratio of paid Pokémon Go
the transformative power of digital media. And it presents    users to its total users was 10 times that of Candy Crush,
inexpensive options that can help merchants (especially       the hit digital game that generated $1 billion in yearly
small to midsize businesses) bring in new customers.          revenues for its creator, King Digital Entertainment Plc, in
                                                              2013 and 2014, Needham noted.
Even if you're not an aficionado, you've no doubt witnessed
the Pokémon Go phenomenon. Have you noticed crowds            Pokémon Go is the first augmented reality game to go
of folks walking around – streets, parks, boardwalks, even    mainstream – a rare viral phenomenon driving people
shopping malls – staring at their smartphones seemingly       from their electronic gaming coves and into the real
oblivious to passersby? Chances are they were playing         world. It won't be the last. Nintendo rolled out the game's
Pokémon Go. It is a 1990s game (Pokémon) turbo-charged        first spinoff – a wearable device dubbed Pokémon Go
with 21st century tools, like location-based augmented        Plus – in early September. And published interviews with
reality, packed into a mobile app that has now been           the developers reveal that at least 10 new iterations of the
downloaded more than any other social media or gaming         augmented reality game are on the drawing board.
app.
                                                              Businesses are beginning already to seize on marketing
Pokémon Go has been generating huge profits for its           opportunities presented by the trend. "It's driving more
creators and backers. Co-creator Nintendo saw its stock       real-world activities; getting people to go places where
price more than double following the app's launch in July.    they wouldn't normally go," said Alex Panagiotopoulos,
Within two weeks of its U.S. launch, Pokémon Go had 45        co-founder of Kingston Creative in Kingston, NY. With
million daily active users. Players were said to be using     a population just under 24,000, Kingston is a small city by
                                                              New York standards. But it has been a hotbed of Pokémon
                                                              Go activity.

                                                              Contributed articles inside by:

                                                              Brandes Elitch.........................................................................................26
                                                              John Tucker..............................................................................................38
                                                              Bob Neagle.............................................................................................. 41
                                                              Lorie Schrameck....................................................................................42
                                                              Theodore F. Monroe and Bradley O. Cebeci................................45

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