By Daniel Terdiman
丹尼尔·特迪曼(Daniel Terdiman)
Niantic, the maker of the hit augmented reality game Pokémon Go, today announced it’s teaming up with a group of 5G carriers from across North America, Europe, and Asia to help high-quality AR experiences proliferate to millions of new users, as 5G technology capable of handling rich AR is deployed on wireless networks around the world.
尼安蒂克，命中增强现实游戏神奇宝贝go的制造商，今天宣布它的联手一组5G运营商来自北美，欧洲和亚洲，以帮助高品质的AR体验增殖数以百万计的新用户，因为5G技术能够处理丰富的AR的技术已部署在世界各地的无线网络中。
As part of what it’s calling the Planet-Scale AR Alliance, Niantic will provide the carriers with a set of AR applications. The initial alliance partners — Deutsche Telekom, EE, Globe, Orange, SK Telecton, Softbank, TELUS, and Verizon — will be able to offer the experiences in their retail stores or for download to 5G-enabled handsets later this year.
作为所谓的Planet-Scale AR联盟的一部分，Niantic将为运营商提供一系列AR应用程序。 最初的联盟合作伙伴-德意志电信，EE，Globe，Orange，SK Telecton，Softbank，TELUS和Verizon-将能够在其零售店提供体验，或在今年晚些时候下载到支持5G的手机上。
During the next phase of the alliance, says Niantic CEO John Hanke, Niantic will work with the carriers to distribute the applications and build consumer awareness globally about what’s possible with AR on 5G networks.
Niantic首席执行官John Hanke表示，在联盟的下一阶段，Niantic将与运营商合作，分发应用程序，并在全球范围内建立消费者对5G网络上AR的可能性的认识。
“The longer-tail piece is the heart of it,” says Hanke. “Integrating the [5G] networks of the carriers and the edge computing portion of that into our global platform so that we can deploy these things at scale to millions and millions of users.”
汉克说：“长尾巴是它的核心。” “将运营商的[5G]网络及其边缘计算部分集成到我们的全球平台中，以便我们可以将这些内容大规模地部署到成千上万的用户中。”
Although Niantic is best known for Pokémon Go, which became a monster success in 2016, it’s also released several other large-scale massively multiplayer AR games, including Ingress and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. And last year, it unveiled its Planet-Scale AR Platform, a set of tools and technology aimed at giving third-party developers what they need to build new large-scale AR experiences. Those outsiders, including winners of Niantic’s developer contests, will contribute some of the experiences available to members of the new alliance.
尽管Niantic以《PokémonGo》而闻名，《 PokémonGo》在2016年取得了巨大的成功，但它还发布了其他几款大型大型多人AR游戏，包括Ingress和Harry Potter：Wizards Unite 。 去年，它推出了自己的Planet-Scale AR平台 ，这是一套工具和技术，旨在为第三方开发人员提供构建新的大规模AR体验所需的工具。 这些局外人，包括Niantic开发人员竞赛的获胜者，将贡献一些新联盟成员可以使用的经验。
5G比AR需要5G更多的AR (5G Needs AR More Than AR Needs 5G)
Beyond the potential short- and long-term benefit to AR developers, including Niantic itself, the pact is a necessary move for 5G carriers who need something to show their users the value of the next-generation wireless networks as they transition from current 4G networks. “Many of today’s 4G applications will simply work better or evolve in 5G,” says Reticle Research principal analyst Ross Rubin. “But it’s tough to get people excited about that. AR is about the only ‘pillar’ tech today . . . that could fundamentally change how we interact with the world if it can gain access to the high-bandwidth, low-latency, and eventually broad coverage of 5G.”
除了为AR开发人员(包括Niantic本身)带来潜在的短期和长期利益外，该协议对于5G运营商而言是必要的举措，因为他们需要一些东西向用户展示下一代无线网络的价值，因为他们正在从当前的4G网络过渡。 Reticle Research首席分析师Ross Rubin表示：“当今许多4G应用都将在5G中更好地工作或发展。” “但是很难让人对此感到兴奋。 AR是当今唯一的“Struts”技术。 。 。 如果它可以访问5G的高带宽，低延迟并最终获得广泛的覆盖，那么这可能从根本上改变我们与世界的互动方式。”
That dynamic is even more urgent for wireless carriers during the coronavirus era. “They’ve got to keep people paying their smartphone bills during the pandemic, and during a downtime when oftentimes they’re not having to be mobile, and not having to rely on the smartphone and mobility,” says Brian Blau, senior advisor at ImmersivEdge Advisors. “They’re sitting at home and using Wi-Fi, and that’s getting them by.”
对于冠状病毒时代的无线运营商来说，这种动态甚至更为迫切。 “他们必须让人们在大流行期间以及在停机时间(通常不需要移动，也不必依赖智能手机和移动性)上支付智能手机账单，” Brian Blau，高级顾问ImmersivEdge Advisors。 “他们坐在家里，正在使用Wi-Fi，这使他们感到高兴。”
The potential to offer unique, interactive content such as AR experiences is ” an opportunity to keep in front of people and remind them about how important mobile is,” adds Blau.
Blau补充说，提供独特的交互式内容(如AR体验)的潜力是“一个机会与人们保持联系并提醒他们移动的重要性。”
In short, Rubin says, 5G needs AR more than AR needs 5G, because 5G needs defining applications with the potential to lure large numbers of users. And because AR already works reasonably well on existing networks, he adds, its user base can conceivably grow even without needing next-generation technology.
简而言之，鲁宾说，与5G相比，5G对AR的需求更大，因为5G需要定义具有吸引大量用户潜力的应用程序。 他补充说，由于AR在现有网络上已经可以很好地工作，因此即使不需要下一代技术，其用户群也可以扩大。
现在软件，以后硬件 (Software Now, Hardware Later)
While the alliance is largely geared toward expanding AR software offerings on members’ networks, it’s also likely it will eventually impact hardware.
尽管该联盟主要致力于在会员网络上扩展AR软件产品，但它最终可能还会影响硬件。
Last year, Niantic inked a partnership with Qualcomm to create a reference design for augmented reality glasses. Hanke acknowledges that “you could expect” that electronics manufacturers will eventually be brought into the new alliance along with the wireless carriers who make up the initial membership. After all, he says, the mission of the Qualcomm reference design project is to help bring AR hardware to market, which by design would mean Niantic working hand in hand with hardware partners.
去年，Niantic 与高通公司建立了合作伙伴关系，为增强现实眼镜创建参考设计。 Hanke承认，“您可以期望”电子制造商最终将与组成初始成员资格的无线运营商一起加入新的联盟。 他说，毕竟，高通参考设计项目的任务是帮助将AR硬件推向市场，这在设计上意味着Niantic与硬件合作伙伴携手合作。
Indeed, there’s a logical path from the new alliance to eventual AR hardware that starts with marketing and ends up with carriers eventually being able to offer advanced alternatives to today’s smartphones. The carriers and handset makers have to get people to think differently about how they use their devices, Blau argues, and they have to “put in front of them this message: Interact with the real world in a much different way. That’s really intriguing and will spark people” to adopt new types of hardware that leverage 5G networks.
确实，从新联盟到最终的AR硬件存在一条合理的道路，该道路始于市场营销，最终使运营商最终能够为当今的智能手机提供高级替代产品。 布劳认为，运营商和手机制造商必须让人们对他们如何使用他们的设备进行不同的思考，并且他们必须“在他们面前摆出这个信息：以一种截然不同的方式与现实世界互动。 这真的很有趣，并且会激发人们的兴趣，以采用利用5G网络的新型硬件。
As Niantic moves forward with its platform, it does so from a position of strength: It’s probably the most high-profile developer of AR experiences. But it’s also fighting a pitched battle with Google and Apple, among others, to define the future of AR. The tech giants, especially Apple, are buying immersive technology companies left and right and trying to build the kind of broad, global, live 3D platform that Niantic has already hosted millions of people in.
随着Niantic平台的发展，它从一个强大的角度出发：它可能是最受瞩目的AR体验开发商。 但是它也在与谷歌和苹果等公司进行激烈的战斗，以定义AR的未来。 科技巨头，特别是苹果公司，正在左右收购沉浸式技术公司，并试图建立一种广泛的，全球性的实时3D平台，Niantic已经在该平台中容纳了数百万人。
For AR to be a driver of meaningful adoption of 5G networks, the carriers know that they need to offer more than entertainment. They need to offer information, ways to navigate the real world, and metacontent, says Rubin. Niantic has spent years populating geographic locations around the world with characters from its games; to get to the next stage, it needs to think about expanding well beyond that, to useful things such as products on store shelves, books in libraries, and real-time directions. Google is already starting to do some of these things with its Google Lens technology.
为了使AR成为有意义地采用5G网络的驱动力，运营商知道他们需要提供的不仅仅是娱乐。 鲁宾说，他们需要提供信息，导航现实世界的方式以及元内容。 Niantic花费了数年时间，使用游戏中的角色来填充世界各地的地理位置； 为了进入下一阶段，它需要考虑将其扩展到更多有用的东西，例如货架上的产品，图书馆的书籍和实时指示。 Google已经开始使用Google Lens技术来做其中的一些事情。
For now, though, Niantic is happy just to help more people understand the power of AR, and it’s counting on its new alliance to make that happen. The company will measure the success of the alliance by the number of people it reaches and the awareness of AR it builds. It’s working toward a world in which people have AR glasses and where physical locations across the globe are annotated with AR content. “It’ll be several years in the future before you realize that,” Hanke says. “But the goal is to give a taste of where we’re headed.”
不过，就目前而言，Niantic很高兴能帮助更多的人了解AR的力量，并且它依靠新的联盟来实现这一目标。 该公司将通过其到达的人数和建立的AR的知名度来衡量联盟的成功。 它正在朝着人们佩戴AR眼镜并且在全球的实际位置都标注AR内容的世界努力。 汉克说：“要意识到这一点，还需要几年的时间。” “但是目标是让我们领略我们的前进方向。”
翻译自: https://medium.com/fast-company/pokémon-go-maker-niantic-wants-to-turn-ar-into-5g-s-first-killer-app-d2c30dd6a9fc