Quiver, the augmented reality app that brings drawings to life

When was the last time you heard of a start-up trying to disrupt the colouring book market? Tech in Asia finds out

Let’s face the truth. Kids these days are more interested in technology – playing games on smartphones or tablets – than activities such as colouring. This dynamic partly accounts for the massive growth in games and apps targeted specifically at children. 

But parents can breathe a little easier now. Quiver is a nifty start-up that is trying to bring the augmented reality experience to colouring. Users download and print content from the Quiver site, fill it with any colours they fancy, and then hover the Quiver app over it to watch their drawings come to life. This video sums it up nicely:

“The business didn’t start off as ‘hey let’s make an AR colouring app’,” explains Jessop Petroski, head of content for Quiver. “The technology was discovered in a research lab in New Zealand where they found a way to extract colour from an AR marker.”
 

Quiver (previously Colar) functions basically as a marketplace for colourable AR activities. Jessop explains users can find topics they’re interested in and download relevant pages. When you scan the pages, some AR content is free, while others is based on in-app purchases. There are no requirements for what colours to use – different colours will give a different experience each time.
 

Jessop says the Quiver app has been downloaded by 1.9 million users, with month-on-month growth of about 20%. Their two biggest markets are South Korea and Japan which represent approximately 65% of the total user base. “Since the app first launched we saw the most organic growth in these two countries, which is why we opened an office in Tokyo,” he explains.

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here.