Pottery Barn used to be the go-to shop when it comes to furnishing your home with furniture and even little knick knacks. Lately though, they have been experiencing a slump and parent company Williams-Sonoma seems to be going down with it, as analysts blame the home furnishing chain with this diminishing numbers. In an effort to make consumers interested in the brand again, they are releasing an augmented reality app that you can use to VR-imagine how a certain furniture will actually look like in your house.
The app, 3D Room View, was tailor made for Pottery Barn and was created in partnership with Google. You can choose a photo from an online catalog of their products and then use your smartphone to overlay it on a certain spot in your living room or bedroom or wherever you plan to place the furniture. You can then see if it matches your room’s color scheme (if any) or if it will clash with any of the stuff that is currently there.
They are actually not the first brand that has released such an app. Back in 2013, Ikea had a similar thing for their 2013 catalog. Home renovation and design startup Houzz had a View My Room feature. And just recently, home decor site Wayfair introduced an AR app called WayfairView. We don’t have reports from these brands whether their apps were effective, but Williams-Sonoma are probably wishing their app would make magic for the brand.
However, the app will only work for now with smartphones that have the Google Project Tango tech, specifically the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro and the Asus Zenfone AR. The initial release, expected later this month, will focus on living room furniture and decorations, but more rooms will be added later on.
VIA: SF Chronicle
So if you break something in AR, do you still have to pay for it?