Did Lenovo and Google Tango just hit an AR jackpot with this Pokemon Go phenomenon?
This article by Will Shanklin for Gizmag may be of interest to subscribers. Here is a section:
Put the two together and you have an amped-up version of Pokémon Go, where the monsters you're chasing know their environments. If people walk in front of the monsters, the people stay in the foreground; if the people walk behind them, the people go in the background. If there's a table in the middle of the room, the monster will walk around it instead of through it, and they'll also move around lampposts, signs or any other obstacles.
You get the idea ...
When Lenovo announced the Phab2 Pro, we thought it was an incredibly bold phone with a somewhat niche focus: things like seeing how a new couch will look in your living room, measuring objects from distance or playing with virtual pets. After Pokémon Go exploded and took over the world this week, though, this phone suddenly has the potential to go from niche to the hottest property around.
Of course this would require developer support from Pokémon Go creators Nintendo and Niantic, Inc. It isn't a stretch to imagine such a partnership, with a common connection: Until last year, Niantic was a company living under the Google umbrella (then known as Niantic Labs), and Google also creates the Tango tech that makes this AR mapping possible inside the Phab2 Pro. Surely the lines of communication have already been open on this, no?
Video games are often viewed by parents as the antithesis of a productive use of a child’s time. They sit motionless, while absorbed in whatever is happening onscreen and when doing something else only want to go back to playing the game. The additional sight of young people sitting side by side and texting each other rather than speaking is often something older people have great difficulty understanding.
Nintendo has been the champion of moving while playing for quite some time and Pokémon Go is a fresh take on interactive gameplay. It was quite entertaining, while out for a stroll yesterday, to see groups of kids roaming around Santa Monica in search of Pokémon, stopping each other and comparing notes before heading off with new found knowledge.
Nintendo surged last week to breakout of a medium-term range.
Lenovo collapsed last year on the botched release of a new laptop. The share (Est P/E 10.28, DY 5.2%) has at least stabilised above HK$4 and potential for a reversionary rally has improved. A sustained move above the trend mean will be required to signal a return to demand dominance beyond the short term.