With technology giants like Apple, Google and Microsoft all making moves towards the augmented reality space, now PayPal has thrown its hat into the ring as well.

Last week, PayPal refreshed an old patent for an augmented reality shopping experience. The patent covers a proposed application of using a digital overlay on top of physical products.

In the simplest of explanations, users would see information pop up as they browsed stores for their shopping needs. Things like return policy, payment options and price would all be useful data given to customers while they shopped.

One additional potential application would be customer reviews on products. Reviews have long been hailed as the holy grail of online shopping. With the Amazon marketplace popularizing the internet’s review culture, it’s been proven that products that have high numbers of positive reviews tend to outsell their lower-ranking counterparts.

While this may not be particularly applicable for basic items such as laundry detergent and toothpaste, it could be immensely helpful for higher-ticket items. Things like power tools and home appliances would have readily-accessible information for users on expected lifespan, potential issues and price-to-value comparisons with other brands.

While PayPal declined to comment on the development of the system, it seems logical that a company that is built on accepting virtual payments would integrate with something that made shopping easier.

PayPal was originally acquired by eBay back in 2002. And Venmo, the popular smartphone app that allows users to easily transfer money to each other, is also owned by PayPal.

And while PayPal has long been synonymous with online payments, they’ve also made strides in brick and mortar stores. With specially designed hardware and payment terminals that allow transactions from users’ accounts, they’ve been able to bridge the gap between solely online payments to real-world ones.

With these massive technology companies increasingly becoming more similar, it remains to be seen how PayPal’s entry into the augmented reality space will be received.

Here at Lucyd, we’re aware that shopping is likely to be one of the most widespread uses of augmented reality technology. Once smartglasses are as common as smartphones, users will likely be using community-developed apps to enhance their life experience.

Imagine a smartglasses app like My Fitness Pal that gives data on macronutrients and calories for a given piece of food. Or, much like PayPal’s proposed solution, an app that displays price information, reviews and comparisons between competitor products just by browsing in a store.

In Q1 2019 when our prototype launches, the Lucyd Lens smartglasses will already have dozens (if not hundreds) of apps ready to go. Will a browsing app like the one described here be one of them? As the magic 8 ball would say: “All signs point to yes.”

• the Lucyd team

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