Verizon Droid with Simulated Layar Browser

By now most people close to the augmented reality industry have heard according to VentureBeat that the leading AR browser company Layar has secured $1 million in venture capital from a variety of investors of which all are European.

According to Matt Marshall from VentureBeat what is interesting is the way that Layar is currently positioned from a revenue model standpoint. It is only a platform that other developers are leveraging and even making money with various applications within the iPhone and Android marketplaces.  Matt Marshall writes:

“Notably, there is no “commons,” or neutral area where a developer doesn’t control the channel. So if you use Layer, you’re only doing one thing, and the developer owns the experience. You’re a tourist, looking at the tourist layer, or you’re a Heiniken drinker looking for beer, etc. However, van der Klein said he’s studying a way to create an experience where brands can reach out across layers, so that Heiniken can serve ads whether a user happens to be. He wouldn’t disclose details.”

Raimo van der Klein, chief executive officer of Layar says he is really excited about working with other manufacturers such as Motorola, LP, Sony Ericsson to build the next release of Layar. Though here in the United States Layar is currently available on in the iPhone 3GS and Android phones and of the American devices he is most excited about Google’s Android OS because it is distributed among multiple US carriers.

Most notably is the new “Droid” phone being launched by Verizon today.

As Google Android OS powered phones become available on more devices throughout the different American carriers, it will be interesting to see how Apple reacts to its current obligation of being only with AT&T. Though Layar is currently available on the iPhone 3GS, having other devices from carriers quickly creating similar devices, it is time for users to celebrate as devices will become now become more than just status symbols, but devices that are able to leverage emerging technology in a ubiquitous way.

The investment in Layar is a signal that augmented reality will penetrate more devices especially once Layar launched on the Nokia-Symbian OS. Outside of the United States the Symbian OS is on the majority of hand held devices.

Layar will be worthy to watch as it aligns itself with device manufacturers and will be the early favorite to bring augmented reality to the mass consumer. Will Layar become the platform which other AR startups will build their businesses similar to Google and Facebook? Or will the difficulty of standardizing its technology among all devices and carriers stall its growth?