I’m working with several companies who have augmented reality platforms and are looking to make money by allowing 3rd party developers to build content using their tools and services. Layar however have struck the first blow in becoming the first augmented reality appstore.

At Mobile World Congress yesterday, Layar announced that from mid March developers will have the option to produce either free or paid layers. These layers will be will be distributed via the Layar application so developers will be able to take advantage of Layar’s existing user base (around 1 million users) rather than having to market a new application to new users.

Consider you want to build a World Cup augmented reality application and charge $.99 for it, do you :

A) – hire a developer, spend a few months building something, go through the Apple approval process, then spend months trying to market you application
b) -  develop it as a Layer, have access to all of Layar’s customers

Unless you are looking for a complete bespoke solution I think most people will be in B-land. As a side effect, allowing developers to make money from their work should bring about a whole new generation of quality content as users will demand more than find me a bar type apps.

It’s an ambitious project, having personal experience of putting together an application store, dealing with tax issue, customer complaints, refunds and payments it is a messy business.

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