Layar announces an extension to its mobile augmented reality (AR) platform, Layar Vision-- enabling phones to recognise real world objects and display digital content on top of them. 

The company says Layar Vision should make it easier for developers to create user experiences involving multiple enriched objects at any given time. A beta version will be available in a few weeks' time. 

Layar entices developers further with a Layar Creation Challenge, with $55000 worth in cash prices-- involving the search for 10 developers with the best concepts for AR technology use. 

Q4 2011 will also see the release of Layar Player, which allows developers to incorporate Layar Vision features into their own mobile apps. 

Go Layar

Mobile cloud-based enterprise services will be worth $39Bn by 2016 according to Juniper Research, as mobile network operators offer corporate clients a growing variety of mobile unified communications suites. 

The analyst insists a "significant proportion" of these revenues comes from migration-related spending, as enterprises move away from traditional offerings-- even if cloud-based services can also prove to be an effective means for customer retention.

There's concerns with migration towards the cloud, of course-- data security (in both secure access and secure storage) and whether such migrations represent demonstrable ROI. 

The cloud will also offer communications services providers the opportunity to share their APIs with SaaS providers, thus increasing their revenues. 

Further opportunity will arise for cloud security providers, as they address the concerns mentioned earlier. 

Data redundancy will also require improvement if the impacts data outages cause are to be dampened. 

Finally Juniper concludes that enterprises will also need to know their servers' physical locations. 

Go Juniper Research Mobile Cloud Report

The days of forgetting one's door keys might be numbered if your clients go for the Lockitron way-- replacing their keys and locks with the company's lock and smartphone app combination.

The Lockitron system uses a plug server and an ethernet cable connecting to an electronic lock. A server connects the lock itself, which opens when one uses the smartphone app from basically anywhere.

Clients using the system can also create multiple "keys" to email or text to friends and family.

The lock-replacement system works with both deadbolt and handle locks and is available in several finishes. Lockitron also offers a NFC-based option.

The basic Lockitron system involves a single payment (unlike similar systems such as Schlage's, which require a monthly subscription)-- with text message access available as a premium subscription-based service.

Go Lockitron

While Android shows fairly impressive growth-- with WW Android devices reaching 500000 daily (at least that's what Google's Andy Rubin tweets)-- the platform is losing developer support to Apple iOS, according to Flurry.

As one can see in the chart comparing project starts on iOS and Android, new Android projects are down from Q1 2011's 36% to Q2 2011's 28%. 

Meanwhile new iOS projects are on the rise, with iPhone/iPod Touch projects up from 54% (Q1 2011) to 57% (Q2 2011) and iPad projects up from Q1 2011's 10% to Q2 2011's 15%. 

This is a change of preference from 2010, where Android support was on a steady rise-- reaching a peak of 39% in Q4 2010. 

Why such a decline? Flurry offers 2 probable causes. 

One is the iPad 2's launch further luring developers away from building for Android as they follow the money (and where customers' preferences appear to be going). Google's app store is also still in need of further improvement, and Flurry says Google Checkout adoption is "critical to its success". 

The lack of a unified consumer payment system for Google invites 3rd party competition-- and the billing fragmentation that comes with it. 

The second reason is US related-- the iPhone's launching on Verizon. 

Go iPad 2 and Verizon iPhone Take Some Wind Out of Android's Sail