Qualcomm's Awesome Augmented Reality SDK Now Available For iOS
Back around July of last year, Qualcomm launched a software development kit for building Augmented Reality apps on Android. The idea was to allow Android developers to build all sorts of crazy AR stuff (like games and apps …
Context & Ripple Effects
Qualcomm has spent a year building its augmented reality play in stages: an early showcase of what Android AR could do back in 2009 set the stage for the company's own Android AR SDK around July 2010, and a May 2011 announcement confirmed the kit was coming to the iPhone even though Qualcomm supplies no chips for Apple devices. Today that iOS version ships, making the toolkit available on both major mobile platforms at once.
First-order effects
- iPhone developers can now build AR games and apps on the same free SDK Android developers have had since mid-2010, removing the platform asymmetry that existed since Qualcomm's original launch.
- Qualcomm gains direct access to the iOS developer base it cannot reach through hardware sales, since it does not supply Apple's processors.
Second-order effects
- With Android having passed iPhone in US smartphone share by April 2011 while iOS and Android sit nearly tied on app revenue, Qualcomm's cross-platform SDK positions it to capture whichever ecosystem wins the AR developer race rather than betting on one.
- Apple now has third-party silicon vendors shipping developer tools into its App Store ecosystem, raising the question of whether it responds with native AR tooling of its own.
Third-order effects
- The move signals chipmakers competing through free software platforms and developer ecosystems rather than silicon alone — Qualcomm building mindshare among iOS developers who buy none of its chips.
- If AR tooling follows this pattern, mobile AR consolidates around a small number of vendor-controlled SDKs whose reach spans rival operating systems, prefiguring platform lock-in at the tools layer.
The trend: Chip vendors are extending their reach beyond hardware by giving away developer SDKs across rival operating systems, turning augmented reality tooling into a cross-platform land grab.