I was at the first meeting of the Augmented Reality Mancheter Group last night and it was an interesting meet.
A mix of design , tech and client services folk interested in the growing-technology and applications of augmented reality.

I've only got one app on the iphone at the moment (Sun Seeker) but that itself demonstrates how useful the technology can be.
How it can boost a Brands reputation or increase sales for a client is of course another matter. But the technology itself looks really interesting and its role in marcomms / campaign strategies will no doubt take off very soon.
I'll add in some examples like the GE Energy App that is shown a lot, soon.
The ideal would be for us to start prototyping Apps  for clients as part of a wider campaign response.

But commercial / ROI usefulness of any new platform or technology is the acid test : Which is why this post is called fabric or fad, in that unlike (say) 2nd Life and virtual world technology - I think AR could be part of the fabric of Marketing communications , whilst virtual worlds (in that context - not for other instances e.g in closed-group education) is / was a fad.

What do you think?