Amsterdam, April 28th 2010. Today Layar introduces a new revenue stream in Augmented Reality. Publishers on the Layar platform now have the possibility to offer priced Augmented Reality experiences on multiple mobile platforms such as iPhone and Android. The content store is seamlessly integrated into the Layar Reality Browser, which is already used on more than 1.6 million mobile devices globally.

The Layar Payment Platform is setup to support multiple payment providers and multiple currencies, ready to serve the different local markets. Layar deals with legal, administrative and tax rules enabling the publisher to focus on their core activities: creating valuable experiences. The first payment provider is PayPal, supporting payments to residents of United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. More countries, currencies, payment methods and payment providers will be added regularly.

Any publisher ready to start exploring the medium and monetizing their content can go to http://site.layar.com/create.

The first publishers to seize the opportunity include among others:

• Berlitz City Guides: Berlitz helps people experience the city’s highlights: the best attractions, coziest restaurants, most comfortable hotels, coolest places to shop and most fashionable nightlife.
• Mouse Reality for Disney World and Disneyland: Helps find and navigate all attractions, shows, shops, dinning, transportation, and more in Disneyland and Disney World.
• EyeTour: Explore Puerto Rico’s natural beauty and rich cultural heritage through exclusive video content of historical sites, museums, restaurants, parks and more.
• UK sold prices: ‘Sold House Price Data 2010’ - Check the latest UK residential Sold Price information as recorded by the Land Registry while on the move.

Raimo van der Klein, CEO of Layar: “We have built a great future proof platform that will make Augmented Reality a flourishing marketplace for content, services and goods. Seeing the current interest from especially the retail, tourism and gaming industry we are sure this will fuel the growth of the Augmented Reality medium even further.”

Hubert Haarmann, Director eBusiness of Langenscheidt: “For Berlitz Publishing this is a great opportunity to forge ahead in the new medium of Augmented Reality using Layar. It helps us sell products successfully, now and in the future.”

Publishers can start selling their content without upfront investments. Layar facilitates payments between the end-user and the publisher. Publishers receive 60% of the net proceeds. The costs for the platform, legal, administration, banking and others are covered by the remaining 40%.

Android users who are residents of United States, United Kingdom, Canada or Australia can start buying layers right now after installing the new version of the Layar Augmented Reality Browser. The iPhone update is soon to follow.

About Layar Layar is world’s leading Augmented Reality Platform on mobile. The Layar Reality Browser currently has more than 1.6 million users and comes pre-installed on tens of millions of phones from leading handset manufacturers and carriers by the end of the year. Over 500 layers are published on the Layar Platform with over 2000 in development. These layers are developed by the global community of 3000 Layar publishers and producers, and by leading brands and agencies. Layar is located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The company is funded and has 32 employees.

The free Layar Reality Browser is available on Android devices and iPhone 3GS. The Layar Platform is available for anyone to create their own Augmented Reality experiences on.

Layar, see the world http://www.layar.com

Find more information and screen shots at: http://site.layar.com/paid-layer-launching-partners/ and http://site.layar.com/paid-layer-screens

Imagine the Dam Square in Amsterdam filled with statues and odd characters and only you can see them trough the camera of Android- and iPhone. Saturday the 24th of April this is going to be the case.  At exactly 14.00 hours the National Monument on the Dam Square will be surrounded with digital 3D statues that can be viewed in Augmented Reality with the Layar app. The rumour is that even the iconic Beatles will be there crossing the street like in the famous picture on the Abbey road.

>> The pictures of Worlds first AR Flashmob

Sander Veenhof is the creator behind this amazing idea. Veenhof says: “Every square in every major city in the world knows the ‘human statue’ phenomenon. On the Dam Square in Amsterdam Darth Vader, Superman, a Gladiator and some undecipherable sort of gothic characters colour the scene.“ But this Saturday it will be a whole other sight, at exactly 14.00 hours a big group of people will hold their Androids and iPhones in the air, turn on their Layar browser and take screenshots of the amazing 3D characters that we will place in Augmented Reality on the Dam Square. You can actually walk around them to look at them from all angles by just using your phone and the Layar browser. We are really looking forward to see the faces of those who have no clue of what’s going on.

Veenhof Teamed up with TAB Worldmedia, one of the leading creative media companies that specializes in Layar concepts to realize his idea. Augmented Reality experts Johannes la Poutre and Remco Vroom, founders of TAB Worldmedia, immediately offered their expertise and resources to realize this concept. La Poutre “when we heard about this amazing idea we were immediately captured by it. To realize this idea you need a solid and somewhat creative technical infrastructure and that is exactly what we like to build.”

JOIN the flashmob on Saturday the 24th of April at 14.00 hours on the Dam Square in Amsterdam. Prepare your phone, install the Layar Augmented Reality browser and look for the layer using “ARflashmob” under the local tab. Choose your favourite character and share your screenshots with your friends on Twitter, Facebook, Hyves, MobyPicture or what ever other kind of social media you have.

The Berlin Wall was a concrete barrier built by the German Democratic Republic that completely enclosed the city of West Berlin, separating it from East Germany including East Berlin. The wall fell in 1989, but is now back in it’s original environmental context in Berlin with the Berliner Mauer layer.

Two German layer developers, Hoppala and Superimpose, developed this layer, which is an amazing showcase of the 3D capabilities and relevancy of our platform when it comes to putting back history in it’s original context. The Berliner Mauer layer includes guard towers placed along large concrete walls, which circumscribed a wide area.

Follow the former border line from Brandenburg gate and experience german history at an historical place – right in the middle of germanys capital.

Check out this cool layer when you’re in Berlin. Go to the Brandenburg gate, open the Berlin Wall layer and see how the fallen Berlin Wall comes back to life.

We are very proud of the great number of 41 new layers which have been launched this week AND that the Layar content has reached the “big 500” in number of layers! Moreover, country specific content is spreading thoughout the world. Last weeks we had first country specifc layers launched in Israel, Malta and South Africa. This week there are two layers layers launced especially for Singapore (Singapore Dine & MRT & LRT public transport) and also Turkey now has it’s first 2 country-dedicated layers (including a cool real estate layer with many filters: Milliyet Emlak) The 500th layer to be approved is the HiHD 無線數位轉播站, the second Taiwan specific layer.

We talked to the enthusiastic developer of the 500th layer, Kenny Kuo, from Cyclone Info. Office, who is determined to implement more layers with his Taiwanese software house. He explained about his layer and especially for our Taiwanese users & developers including answers in Chinese ;-)

About the HiHD 無線數位轉播站 layer 2008年公共電視 接受行政院新聞局「公共廣電與文化創意、數位電視發展兩年計畫」補助，協助建置國內第一個HDTV高畫質無線數位頻道— 「HiHD」，以提供台灣民眾多元的高畫質節目內容。(出處:關於HiHD介紹, 網址: http://hihd.pts.org.tw/about_hihd.php) . The Public Television Service (PTS) launch the trial HDTV channel in Taiwan. Users need an antenna in order to receive certain broadcasting stations, my layer gives them the direction to align their antenna for reference. Have a look at the site [enter lat/lon “25.034030 121.564622” and level “101” (the position is Taipei 101, the form world’s highest building), and you can get the direction], or try the layer for yourself!

HiHD 無線數位轉播站 - Taiwan
Singapore-Dine - Singapore
Singapore MRT and LRT - Singapore
oto24.com - otomobil burada - Turkey
Milliyet Emlak - Turkey
Gowalla Spots - International
GowallAR - International
Third Echelon - Amsterdam, Netherlands
Nice Spot - Canada
Qualis.nl -  Netherlands
Cityguide to Gothenburg -  Gothenburg, Sweden
Jelly Coworking -  International
GPSies.com by Openhanced -  International
広島P2ウォーカー検索; Hiroshima P2 Walker -  Hiroshima, Japan
函館観光案内 -  Hakodate, Japan
Google meets Layar -  France
Gewerbeimmobilien -  Germany
Geldautomaten -  Germany
Mediterranean, Inmobiliaria de Caja Mediterráneo -  Spain
kutxa -  Spain
METRO SEVILLA -  Sevilla, Spain
METRO MADRID - Madrid , Spain
EPI Drome -  France
FunkFeuer Community Wireless Network -  Austria
Powerhouse Museum -  Australia
Robin Hood Tax -  UK
Monaco - Monaco
Capgemini offices locations -  France
Omaha’s Top 10 - Omaha, Nebraska, US
NESCAFÉ.CL - Chile
White Guide - Sweden
Metro de Barcelona - Spain
Hotel Doen! - Willem Verspyck
Turismo en Bilbao - Bilbao, Spain
Turimo en A Coruña - Coruña, Spain
UK Hospital Finder - UK
ПриватБанк - Ukraine
Farmacias Pinto - Spain
Resto - France
Sansiri life style - Thailand
Billetlugen - Spillesteder - Denmark

Click on the post, to more info & screenshots per layer

HiHD 無線數位轉播站
Description: 擴增實境指向台灣無線數位電視 HiHD 高畫質頻道轉播站，使用者在調整天線方向時提供更為便利的參考依據。轉播站台涵蓋:竹子山/萬里/南港山/店子湖/枕頭山/中寮山六 個 HiHD 轉播站
Geographical spread: Taiwan
Developer: Kenny Kuo
Developer Company: Cyclone Info. Office

Singapore-Dine
Description: Singapore’s main restaurants and dining portal. Look for restaurants, coffee shopsand hawker places in your area, get special promotions, read reviews and make reservations on the go.
Geographical spread: Singapore
Developer: Avi Rosen
Developer Company: Expys

Singapore MRT and LRT
Description: Locate and get directions to MRT and LRT stations in Singapore
Geographical spread: Singapore
Developer Company: LiveSpot

oto24.com - otomobil burada
Description: Türkiyenin 2 el ve 0 km otomobil alim-satim pazari. Turkey’s 2nd hand car trading market, and 0 km. http://www.oto24.com
Geographical spread: Turkey
Developer: Hüseyin Aksu
Developer Company: Duvardeko

Milliyet Emlak
Description: Hayalinizdeki emlak belki su an burada. Seeking to achieve real estate milliyetemlak.com ‘s new application even easier!
Geographical spread: Turkey
Developer: T.Serkan OZDINC
Developer Company: alba

Gowalla Spots
Description: Find the nearby Gowalla Spots
Geographical spread: international
Developer: Fred van Rijswijk
Developer Company: C2K

GowallAR
Description: Explore Gowalla on Layar
Geographical spread: International
Developer: Junjun Olympia

Third Echelon
Description: BE Sam Fisher in the Spintercell introduction Layar ! Blutarsky, Muzar.org and Ubisoft teamed up to preset you with the most real “sam fisher” experience to date. Solve mysteries and complete missions in Amsterdam!
Geographical spread: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Developer: Jeroen Meijer
Developer Company: Muzar.org

Nice Spot
Description: Find the nice public spots around you. Relax, enjoy, energize - just be happy you found a nice spot.
Geographical spread: Canada
Developer: Christopher Zimmermann
Developer Company: Time Science

Qualis.nl
Description: Dé Layer voor exclusief onroerend goed in Nederland. Nieuwsgierig hoe die prachtige villa bij u in de buurt er uitziet? Met deze Layer kunt u het aanbod van Qualis.nl in Nederland bij u in de omgeving bekijken.
Geographical spread: Netherlands
Developer: Victor Henskens
Developer Company: REG Media bv

Cityguide to Gothenburg
Description: Discover the city
Geographical spread: Gothenburg, Sweden
Developer: Igor Tihonov
Developer Company: Sweco Position AB

Jelly Coworking
Description: Find your local Jelly! What’s Jelly? Jelly’s a casual work event where everyone’s invited. It’s for anyone who’d like to work alongside other creative people in a welcoming environment. More info here and add your own Jelly here
Geographical spread: UK / international
Developer: Paul Lewis
Developer Company: Media Grand UK Ltd

GPSies.com by Openhanced
Description: This lists all tracks of the site GPSies.com. (Cycling, MTB, running, etc tracks); more info here
Geographical spread: international
Developer: Hans Blaauw
Developer Company: Openhanced

広島P2ウォーカー検索; Hiroshima P2 Walker
Description: 広島平和記念公園周辺の観光スポットや記念碑（動画有）を検索; See Hiroshima Peace Park and major tourist spots. Layer available in Japanese and English
Geographical spread: Hiroshima, Japan

函館観光案内
Description: 函館近郊の観光スポットをご案内いたします。; Hakodate Tourist Information
Geographical spread: Hakodate, Japan
Developer: atWare, Inc.
Developer Company: atWare, Inc.

Google meets Layar
Description: Google dans votre poche. Trouvez tout ce que vous voulez à proximité.
Geographical spread: France
Developer: Bertrand Lebonnois
Developer Company: Pollop

Gewerbeimmobilien
Description: Suche nach Gewerbeimmobilien in Deutschland
Geographical spread: Germany
Developer: Martin Adam
Developer Company: wohnmap.de

Geldautomaten
Description: Finden Sie Geldautomaten in Ihrer Nähe
Geographical spread: Germany
Developer: Martin Adam
Developer Company: wohnmap.de

Mediterranean, Inmobiliaria de Caja Mediterráneo
Description: Localiza todas nuestras viviendas más próximas a tu posición actual. Locate our homes closest to your current position; or watch the video
Geographical spread: Spain
Developer: José Luis Serrano
Developer Company: CAM

kutxa
Description: Oficinas y cajeros de kutxa
Detail Description
Geographical spread: Spain
Developer: Loreto Garcia
Developer Company: Kutxa

METRO SEVILLA
Description: Encuentra las paradas de metro más cercanas a su posición en Sevilla.
Geographical spread: Sevilla, Spain
Developer: Pablo Garcia
Developer Company: ELIPSE AD

METRO MADRID
Description: Encuentre las estaciones de metro más cercanas a su posición en Madrid.
Geographical spread: Madrid, Spain
Developer: Pablo Garcia
Developer Company: ELIPSE AD

EPI Drome
Description: Localiser les Espaces Publics Internet du département de la Drôme
Geographical spread: France
Developer: herve pellarin
Developer Company: hpsc

FunkFeuer Community Wireless Network
Description: The FunkFeuer initiatives are building non-commercial community driven wireless mesh networks throughout Austria.
Geographical spread: Austria
Developer: Wolfgang Nagele
Developer Company: Private

Powerhouse Museum
Short Description: Powerhouse Museum is Sydney’s museum of science, design & social history
Geographical spread: Australia
Developer: Rob Manson
Developer Company: MOB (Mobile Online Business Pty Ltd)

Robin Hood Tax
Description: Mask Up You Merry Men and Women! Support the Robin Hood Tax by wearing a virtual mask. Take a photo of the mask on your friends face and upload it here
Geographical spread: UK
Developer: Paul Lewis
Developer Company: Media Grand UK Ltd

Monaco
Description: Tout ce qu’il faut avoir vu à Monaco All the must see of Monaco
Geographical spread: Monaco
Developer: Georges DICK
Developer Company: Capgemini

Capgemini offices locations
Description: All the Capgemini offices locations in France
Geographical spread: France
Developer: Georges DICK
Developer Company: Capgemini

Omaha’s Top 10
Description: 10 Great things to see and do in Omaha, Nebraska.
Geographical spread: Omaha, Nebraska, US
Developer: Mathijs Gajentaan
Developer Company: Winvolve

NESCAFÉ.CL
Description: Datos y Eventos de NESCAFÉ.CL
Geographical spread: Chile
Developer: Juan Pablo Fierro
Developer Company: Nescafe

White Guide
Description: Sveriges ledande restaurangguide. White Guide which is published annually is a comprehensive survey of the most interesting restaurants.
Geographical spread: Sweden
Developer: Fredrik Davidsson
Developer Company: Teknograd AS

Metro de Barcelona
Description: Situación de todas las paradas de metro de Barcelona - realidadaumentadalayar.com
Geographical spread: Spain
Developer: Miguel
Developer Company: pete

Hotel Doen!
Description: Een overzicht van hotels in de omgeving.
Geographical spread: Netherlands
Developer: Willem Verspyck
Developer Company: Online Doen!

Turismo en Bilbao
Description: Ubicación de todos los puntos turísticos de Bilbao
Geographical spread: Bilbao, Spain
Developer: Miguel
Developer Company: pete

Turimo en A Coruña
Description: Ubicacion de puntos turísticos en la ciudad de Acoruña
Geographical spread: Coruña, Spain
Developer: Miguel
Developer Company: pete

UK Hospital Finder
Description: Need a Hospital? Locate hospitals within 5km of your position anywhere in the UK -Accident & Emergency - Childrens Hospitals - NHS Trust Hospitals - Private Hospitals - Bupa Hospitals- and more
Geographical spread: UK
Developer: AYR Comm
Developer Company: AYR Communications

ПриватБанк
Description: Местонахождение отделений, банкоматов и терминалов банка ПриватБанк.Location of branches and ATMs of PrivatBank.
Geographical spread: Ukraine
Developer: Vadim Samelyuk
Developer Company: SPD Vadim Samelyuk

Farmacias Pinto
Description: Farmacias de guardia Pinto
Geographical spread: Spain
Developer: José Joaquín Cáceres Reyes
Developer Company: Apptitud

Resto
Description: Trouvez rapidement un restaurant autour de l’endroit où vous vous trouvez.
Geographical spread: France
Developer: Nicolas Léon
Developer Company: Omnitic

Sansiri life style
Description: Sansiri is real estate company, Sansiri would like to provided their customer easy to find their home project, condo project, food, fitness, coffee shop,
Geographical spread: Thailand
Developer: Fe Element
Developer Company: FlexMedia

Billetlugen - Spillesteder
Description: Et lag der viser spillesteder som Billetlugen sælger billetter for. A layer showing venues as Billetlugen sell tickets.
Geographical spread: Denmark
Developer: Bjorn Bjornson
Developer Company: Billetlugen A/S

Already in 2009 great “seasonal layers” have been developed. For instance, Zehnder communications have developed a great layer especially for the 3-days New Orleans Voodoo (music) Festival. Festival-goers, with Layar-enabled phones, could get information on performances, attractions and services. For easter Marc René Gardeya, from Hoppala, has developed the “Hoppala goes Easter layer”. The layer lets you place 3D easter eggs around the world and leave messages for your friends. You can search for eggs wherever you are. Ochio.nl has developed a special “easter egg search game” layer for The Netherlands. (Here at Layar Headquarters Amsterdam we can’t wait to see all the creative ideas for a “Queensday layer” the 30th of April - which is THE national celebration in the Netherlands).

We talked to Marc René Gardeya and Jeroen Meijer from Muzar.org (Christmas greetings layer dec 09) about developing “seasonal layers”.

Why a seasonal layer?

Marc: We’re right at the dawn of that new medium called augmented reality. It is an experience medium. Jeroen: “The seasonal Xmass layar for us actually started as a joke. “wow” it would be kind of cool to have Santa hovering over your house, seemingly useless but fun. Remember this was the first seasonal layar around. After that we had to think of a way to make it possible, even for a layman to geocode the location and to send somebody else a mail “warning” them of a giant Santa over their house. Developing this Layar was very usefull for us to get to know the 3D capabilities better and getting hands on experience in the integration of fixed- and mobile internet. Moreover, it generated quite some demand from a comercial perspective!

What is  (was) the functionality and usage of the layer? Marc: Augmented reality on this medium is so great beause of three things: It combines the real and the virtual, it’s interactive and realtime, and it’s 3D. This is what “Hoppala goes Easter” is about. It combines the real and the virtual - place eggs at your friends place, it’s just that they’re augments. It’s interactive and realtime - place eggs right from your phone, right where you are, and they’re instantly there. And it’s 3D - walk around our exclusively designed eggs. It’s lots of fun! Jeroen: “Actually, this Layar was intended to replace all xmass cards around. They take up valuable natural resources etc. No not really…it was just made for a very small audience. As I see present seasonal layars they attract a bigger audience, also due to the fact that Layar is getting main-stream now.”

Anything else you’d like to share?