专访: Total Immersion亚太掌门人Philippe DePassorio

采访&翻译&编辑: Vivian Peng
文字校对：Viking Wang
(原创内容, 转载请务必注明来自数英网)
特别感谢: Total Immersion亚太区数字营销经理Katie Tang女士

乔布斯、扎克伯格、麦克尼利⋯在一段时间以前，这些人改变了我们的工作生活以及沟通方式。从那以后，技术界的人才携带着各种将会为人类世界带来颠覆性变革的创新技术，一步步走向了历史舞台的前沿，并不断试图影响人们的日常生活。

技术究竟对我们这个世界有着怎样的影响？ 2006年，Kevin Kelly在TED上一则惊动世界的演讲《How Technology Evolves》中，他把技术本质的研究转化成一个终极问题：技术的野心是什么？他的结论是: 技术与生物世界的进化史一样，最终将逐渐蔓延至世界各地的任何一个角落，人们的未来生活将无处不存在技术的渗透。（Complexity, Diversity, Specialization, Ubiquity, Evolvability.）

直到今天，我们再回头去看今天走在时代主流上的各种创新技术一路的发展轨迹: 原始技术雏形——设计成为一种创新的体验方式——走入商业世界——生活世界的日常工具。归根到底，各种假设都需要在现实中找到证据方才具有传播的价值。

今天我们把视线聚焦在技术世界重要成员之一——Augmented Reality增强现实技术。若是几年前，说到AR还算是鲜为人知的新鲜技术的话，那么今天，AR无疑已经不断为越来越多的人们所熟悉了。这项技术究竟是怎样发展着，怎样一步步走向了商业世界，对于未来又有怎样的布局和打算呢？

Philippe De Passorio 是Total Immersion亚太区掌门人。在2009年，当时正在全球最大的软件设计公司之一Autodesk中担任要职的Philippe被突如其来的猎头，以及两个“Think out of box”的神奇人士长达半天的“忽悠”改变了之后五年的全部生活，加入Total Immersion之后，为公司成功地将营业额带来大幅提升。2009年，他只身一人来到香港，建立了Total Immersion的亚太区总部，然而当时，几乎没有人知道什么是AR 是什么玩意儿，要做一个AR 的技术演示，需要动用两台巨大的台式电脑，进行长达半个小时的装置准备。当时，谁会对这样一个技术玩意儿多看几眼，谁又会看到它将来的市场前景呢？！

在我们看来一切的不可思议和疑惑，大概都会被Philippe描绘AR 时的那种热情与笃定气势给打消。从他的一席谈话中，我们看到的不仅是虚拟交互技术的市场化普及化事业的先行者，及其一路的历史和故事，更能深受感染，看到AR技术的未来似锦蓝图似乎也竟不太遥远。也许真的不需要几年，AR 将会与我们每一个人的生活息息相关呢？

互动中国专访： Total Immersion亚太区创立人/总裁Philippe De Passarion, 听听他从自身经历以及作为一个marketing 资深人士的尖锐洞察之中，一看AR 技术的前世，市场应用情况，市场前景，以及长远的展望。

Q: 数英网
Ph:  Philippe De Passorio

AR 技术的前世，今生，以及价值何在

People always want to be part of the story, and it’s what AR can bring.
Market usage of AR may fade out or become out-dated fashion later, but the e-commerce/m-commerce usage will be a new start.

Q：跟我们简单介绍下您自己和贵公司吧

Ph: 当然，我是现任Total Immersion亚太区负责人，管理亚太区的市场营销事务，同时也是公司P&L产品运营主管。Total Immersion自创建以来一直专注于增强现实的技术领域，我们为全球各地的技术开发者提供全球最大规模的AR 应用平台软件以及AR整合营销应用服务。

Q：让我们把时间拨回到2006年，他在当时全球最为领先的数字化设计技术公司之——Autodesk中担任市场营销和销售总监，为什么在当时的情况下转而选择了一家在当时根本名不见经传的小公司去做一个更小的领域呢？究竟是怎么想的，您为什么核对AR寄语如此的厚望呢？

Ph: 当时有一个猎头找到了我，他问我，是否愿意去一家我当时甚至听都没听过的叫做Total Immersion 的公司，担任市场营销总监职位，当时，那家公司总共加起来也不到12个人的样子。不过当时那个猎头还挺能耐，把我说服了去和T-I公司的两个创始人见一面，这一见就足足谈了半天之久，他们绝对是两个thinking out of the box的家伙，当时，他们就真的让我眼前放佛看到未来五年AR市场一篇欣欣向荣的繁荣景象！ 现在你要玩个AR，不用几秒钟就可以在手机上展示非常生动丰富的交互过程了。可在那个时候，你们能想象吗，那可是2006年，当时要演示AR技术，需要搬两台超大的台式PC，光是演示前的装置就要倒腾半个小时！我自己都觉得不可思议，这一半小时的谈话，彻底改变了我之后的所有生活。

Q ： (笑~)我想您的这一决定是非常正确的。这些年来，不但是国外，就中国国内在短短的这些时间时间里，涌现出各种各样基于AR技术的新玩意儿。从游戏，到各种手机APP，营销领域就更是举不胜举了，各种消费品以各种不同的方式与AR技术相结合，让普通消费者打大开眼界。还有各种各样的现场大会，或者是路演活动，发布会等等，在现场都不断应用AR技术为现场带来高涨的气氛和效果。尽管如此，我们还是想知道，AR技术对于今天的市场营销究竟扮演的是怎样的角色和价值呢？真的已经成为主流了吗？或者还有多少距离？

Ph: 事实上，在5-6年之前，我们的AR技术主要运用在军事领域（实地演习），以及生产制造（设备维护组装等maintenance, assembly,…）方面。大约是从四五年前开始，AR逐渐在市场营销方面产生了一些应用经验，主要用于路演、展览活动、现场秀等，而后是网络Campaign、还有移动终端上的营销活动。我想对于市场营销来说，拥有强大互动性的AR技术的鼎力支持是功不可没的。它能使消费者更乐于参与营销活动，与品牌进一步地互动。并且AR能够进一步地衬托出产品的卖点，并在消费者身上建立共鸣和情感联系。在我们与终端的零售商店、超市卖场合作的过程中发现：每当一个消费者愿意对着AR产品演示驻足观看30秒钟，那他会有九成的机会发生购买。 真金不怕火炼，我们曾成功地帮助零售商提升了四成的销售业绩。

案例视频

Total Immersion 案例 – 吉利剃须刀店内AR增强现实体验

Total Immersion 案例 – 超市零售新办法 AR技术运用到零售业

人们对于故事有着天然的欲望，他们喜欢融入故事场景之中，这就是AR能够带给人们的魅力。但是，这并不能真的让AR技术在市场领域里成为主流。何时AR真正能登上主流营销舞台？ 就是在它应用于B2C行业，并且真正创造价营收的那天！感谢各种独具特色的创新硬件设备，为AR技术和B2C营销打开了前所未有的合作契机！目前，我们已经成功与几个市场核心的设备开发商达成合作，成功地使AR以“硬件”的身份嵌入移动终端智能设备里，不再需要下载软件，直接就能支持并应用AR功能。

Q: AR 技术的未来会是什么呢？我们知道，如今各种新兴的交互技术不断诞生，有没有这样的可能性，AR 在某天成为一种过气的技术？

Ph: 一旦AR技术能成功地蜕变成为硬件设备，就会带来难以估量的巨变！我们可以想象一下，在不久的将来，就会诞生出各种便携式能直接上网的眼镜或者镜片，能直接在人们眼前呈现各种互联网信息。这种类型的硬件设备势必会为AR打开巨大的日常应用契机，到那时，AR可以在这类便携上网设备上带来导航显示功能。

或许，当你在网上浏览某个产品的信息或者是某个用户/好友的信息的同时，该产品,甚至是该用户本人就会即刻出现在你的面前！⋯⋯AR可以作为一个摄像头传感器， 识别和跟踪周边的环境信息，这在如今人们使用的各种设备上都可以实现，这就意味着， 每当你打开了一个新的应用程序，就意味着你为AR传感器打开了又一道全新的的大门。看看今天，摄像头在人们对智能手机的应用上已经与GPS导航一样，变得越来越重要，与人们生活密不可分。

即便在市场营销领域里，或许AR某一天会过时，但是，对于e-commerce/m-commerce（网上购物/手机购物）领域来说，必将会是一个崭新的开始。并且，与此同时，AR将搭乘数字化购物的翅膀，真正进入人们的生活，为人们带来全新的购物体验，与日产生活产生息息相关的影响，

AR坎坷进化路——AR技术的商业化价值及其实现

Still many people don’t really understand AR, so we need to explain a lot on that；
It’s difficult to recruit the right talent to work on an AR project.. AR is new and not many records can trace back；
Asia market is too big and very different. We need to work a lot on localization, make it adopts to different local market；
Corporate company sometimes is scared to try new thing, but following something which is already existed；

Q：我们知道，自从2009年你将Total Immersion带到了亚太市场，从无到有，一路带领亚太区团队迅速成长。今天，我们看到贵公司正在亚太市场逐日地壮大，您可以与我们描述一下在09年时的亚太市场状况吗，AR技术应用是怎样的景象？与今时今日有怎样的差异？

Ph: 2009年我在香港成立了Total Immersion亚太区团队的时候，整个亚太区的营业额只站了全球营业总额的 5％左右。 就在1年后，提升至了20％，去年2011年，我们已经把数字成功地提升到了 31％。 在欧洲国家的市场里，AR应用开始得比较早，同时期的亚洲几乎没多少人知道AR。所以，不可否认的是，过去会出现有些AR营销案例效仿其他地区的情况。但是，亚洲市场正在以惊人的速度成长，逐渐地从一个追随者转变成一个引领者。 如今，这里的人们越来越了解AR，于是，在AR的营销应用上也拥有越来越多自己的优秀创意。

Q：从您的角度来看，AR在哪些行业或领域应用较多？在不久的将来最有潜力的领域又会是哪些？

Ph： 就从我们自己的例子来说，我们大约有50％的项目都是与市场营销相关。包括一些展示和移动应用。 20％左右应用在电子商务领域，30％是产品相关的应用。产品应用指的不是产品营销，而是指应用AR技术来强化产品物理特征的增殖性应用。 例如：

Total Immersion 案例 – 未来图书 AR增强现实技术，加强与互动性的学习和演习：

Total Immersion 案例 – 新型贺卡 AR增强现实技术

我们甚至可以提高玩具AR动画
Total Immersion 案例 – James Cameron’s AR 游戏卡

如果是作为电子商务的一部分，我们可以看到，市场需求将会很大。今天电子商务方面的应用已经是我们市场战略的重要一部分。此外，我们在未来还将更多地应用于移动领域。

Showcase:
用于各种现场活动、产品发布会：

是3D裸眼还是后制? 其实是增强现实 (附4个AR案例)

用于品牌营销：

Total Immersion – Nivea营销案例

用于电子商务：

Total Immersion 案例 – eBay的最新眼镜佩戴手机体验

Q： 您在这些年来，致力于将 AR技术推向更广大的市场营销与商用领域的过程中，您觉得在面对营销主的时候，最大的挑战是什么？

Ph: 到目前为止，我们依然需要面对一系列挑战：

1. 仍有很多人并不了解AR，因此，需要在开始对客户说很多才能让他们对AR有一个基本的了解。

2. 很难招到AR方面的人才。因为AR是一个比较新兴的领域，应聘者通常也无法在应聘的时候提供太多这方面工作的经历参考。

3. 亚洲市场地域广袤，不同地区之间又有极大的差异，我们在投入一个地区的市场之前，需要做相当大量的前期了解工作，才能对当地市场有一个先期的了解，而后才能根据本地市场的特性来较好地应用AR于市场之中。

4. 不少企业，尤其是规模比较大型的公司，其营销人士有时还是会有些怯于尝新，宁可选择效仿一些已有其他人做过的东西。

与技术共崛起的技术创新型公司力量(Total Immersion)

编者前言：

商业型的公司必将是推动各个技术最终实现商业化发展出路最终达到普及应用的道路中最重要的推动力量，作为一家典型的经历了市场化普及斗争的技术先驱公司，我们希望从Philippe身上了解更多技术驱动型公司的发展情况与所面对的各种商业化问题。尤其，是面对亚洲市场的过程中，是怎样的图景？

Our competitors may become our friends!

Q: 作为增强现实解决方案的全球领导者，您可以形容一下贵公司与其他AR技术公司相比最大的优势吗？

Ph: 我们在目前全球的AR市场上是占有领导性地位，不仅仅是因为我们在团队人数的规模上是最大的。在项目交付（2011年平均每天交付两个项目）及营收额方面，同样是走在最前面的。 此外，我们在AR技术方面拥有全球最大规模的研发团队，并且我们只专注于AR。

目前在全球拥有6个办事处，共计 135个特约经销商办事处 ，遍布35个国家和地区。目前，我们的营收在全球AR领域的总营收上占据 85％的比重。我们的技术支持PC/MAC，iPhone，Android系统，并且是同类技术应用中最大规模的。

此外，与德州仪器(Texas Instruments)建立了紧密的合作关系，确保D’ Fusion平台将充分利用OMAP 架构所提供的最好的移动设备，因此，只要是OMAP的用户，就能够直接在自己的产品展示上直接在OMAP上应用D’Fusion的 快速图像识别，优秀的渲染能力，非凡的追踪能力等技术。这这种合作为双方用户带来的利益也是惊人的！

这就是我们的优势，全球AR市场中最有实力的团队，最具有活力和创新力的企业。我们更将自己的竞争对手视作自己的合作伙伴，，这就是Total Immersion！

编者注：Philippe 最描述自己公司实力的同时，所有人都能为他的热情与信心所感染，相信，除了对于公司业务的捍卫，更是对未来的坚信，相信这也是为何以Philippe为首的亚太区团队能以惊人的速度不断在市场中发展的重要原因之一，人们都会为情感共鸣所征服，商业世界也不外如此。

Q： 现在Total Immersion亚洲公司是如何呢？是你的团队规模如何？大家分享一些最新数字营销和电子商务领域的项目？

Ph: 目前我们在东京，香港设有分公司，同时在上海也有一支分包商团队。目前亚太区团队主要是由营销团队，销售团队以及技术服务团队组成。

Total Immersion 最新项目展示：

华为在CES上展出的AR游戏

万宁AR户外营销活动

LV日本

Q： 亚太区是否有专门的创新研发团队呢？有的话，占多少比重呢？专业AR技术人员与其他人员的比率大约是多少呢？ 你如何激励你的团队保持持续的创新？

Ph: 创新是我们公司每天面对的日常工作流程的一部分，是公司DNA的重要部分，密不可分。每个人都始终处于创新的动力之中。

公司每月举办“创新交流会”，从技术工程师到销售经理，每个人都需要在这里表达自己的创意点子和想法，每人有20分钟陈述时间。向自己的上级老板以及全公司同事诠释，可以是任何创新的点子，可以是一个新产品的功能，一个新的App创意，以及任何其他与AR应用相关的想法。

Q: 您如何招聘员工？ 寻找AR技术相关专业的人才是否存在什么困难？您是否会接受外行或者这行还不了解的新人？ 请分享您在这方面的经验。

Ph: 我们聘请专业的猎头公司帮助我们招人，大约需要3个左右密集的搜索才能找到一个合适的我们当然愿意新人加入我们，这会帮助我们增加团队的潜力，只要他对AR工作有热情。并且充满工作斗志。

在我们的团队里，大家都是那种乐于不断打破常规思维的人，并且喜欢不断给自己挑战。 我们在亚太区两年多额时间里，营收业绩翻了六翻。只有一个高潜力的团队可以支持这个巨大的增长，并与公司共同成长。举个例子来说吧，我们聘请了一个刚刚毕业才9个月的应届毕业工程师，他的工作能力与日增长，在9个月里完成了多个不同的项目，现在，我们将更多更大的任务都交给他完成，基于他更大的权限与责任，他一个人管理20名工程师组成的团队，表现非常不错。

崛起中的技术与创新应用市场

Q： 您Total Immersion亚洲计划在不久的将来有什么？你所要面对的潜在最大挑战将是什么？

Ph: 在我们的2年计划，我们将扩大中国的团队，同时将在韩国设立分公司，希望实现总体营收上50％的增长。为了做到这一点，我们需要加强在局部地区的战略联盟，譬如我们已经与日本的KDDI签署了战略联盟合作协议； 在意大利与Intel、Adobe，在美国与eBay、德州仪器都有合作。在亚洲地区，我们可能依然会遵循这条发展道路，

Q: 对于中国市场有什么具体的计划吗？据我们所知，Total Immersion正在同中国密切的频繁，尤其是中国内地市场。你如何看待它的营销潜力呢？

Ph： 在中国的业务越来越多，占据整个亚 太地区收入的30％。我们希望能在未来两年提升50％。中国拥有广阔的电子商务和移动电子商务市场，潜力极其巨大。我们已经与主要的电商伙伴有了一定的接触。

Q: 最后，是否还有什么经验或者心得与DamnDigital的读者分享的？

Ph： 真正的创新，必定能够为人们的生活带来改变的 。

根据Juniper的研究报告称，到2012年搭载有AR技术的智能手机将达到197万价值的市场盈利空间 。我想，他们并没有真正把中国市场考虑在内在中国市场的巨大潜力！

我希望在这里，对所有DamnDigital的读者呼吁，一起投入这一篇前程似锦的AR市场，发挥每一个人的想象力，为中国市场创造更多AR技术的应用前景。未来在你手中，每一个人都有充分把握未来的机会！

编者结语：

技术的发展与融合必将会是接下来较长时间内的重要发展主题，除了不断增加中西方合作关系，更多国际先进力量的加入域支持的同时，据我们所知，其实在我们国内同样具有不少潜力巨大专注于AR 技术研究与应用的实验室，工作室，本土技术力量与国际技术巨头之间又会以怎样的关系与协力共同促成AR 与技术生态的协调发展呢？

此外，各位读者你们对于AR 以及整个技术领域是如何看待的呢？它的发展路径，与商业及生活世界的关系将如何演变，又会有怎样的期待呢？

欢迎大家留言与我们交流。

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Interview: English Version

—— Interview Question for Mr. Philippe De Passorio, the head of Total Immersion Asia

DM: Hey! Can you quickly introduce yourself and describe Total Immersion briefly to us?
Ph: Sure. As Head of Asia Pacific, I oversee the execution of Total Immersion’s market strategies and manage the Company’s P&L operations throughout the region. Total Immersion is a software company dedicated on Augmented Reality. We provide the largest AR platform software to developers and a fully integrated AR solution to the market.

DM: Let’s back to the year of 2006, you were working at Autodesk, and then you chose Total Immersion to be your new start point, what was the motivation? Or, to be more clearly, what is the attraction that Augmented Reality Technology has to you?

Ph: I was headhunted by a specialized recruiting company in order to take the position of Sales Director for a small and unknown company called Total Immersion. At this time, the company had 12 people onboard only. The headhunter convinces me to meet the two founders of the company. After half a day meeting with these 2 “thinking out of the box” guys, I had the vision of how big could be the AR market in the following 5 years. In 2006, you needed 2 big desktop PC and half an hour installation to run a simple demo today, a rich and fully interactive experience can be run onto your smartphone in few second. This half day meeting changed my life for the following 5 years.

DM: We keep hearing new inventions that are based by Augmented Reality Technology. From Games, Mobile apps to consumer products, and also many live experience shows in recent years.How do you see the value of AR In today’s marketing diagram? Do you think AR is already being the mainstream now? Or how far the distance will be?

Ph: 6 to 5 years ago, we used AR for military application (on site training) and manufacturing process (maintenance, assembly,…). Since 5 to 4 years, we are using AR in marketing campaign fir On Stage Show, exhibition, online campaign and mobile marketing activation. Thanks to the interactivty of AR, it lets user engage and interact directly with the brand, increasing emotional attachment to the product. A consumer has 90% chance to buy the product if he have it in his hand for more than 30 secondes. This is exactly what we are providing with AR in Store. We generate an uplift of 400% by using AR in Store.

People always want to be part of the story, and it’s what AR can bring. But it’s still not mainstream at that moment. To be mainstream, we need to create a B2C offer. , New devices with powerful features open new opportunity for AR on the B2C market. We are already working with some major hardware companies to implement AR into the mobile, so changing it from software to be embedded and ready-to-use in hardware.

DM: How far will AR go to in the future? New technology is coming to birth almost by daily basis. What if some day that AR become out-date fashion? How AR will influence everyone’s daily life?

Ph: Revolution will happen when it comes to the hardware. We can imagine in a near future to have light eyewear or lens which display information on top of it. This kind of hardware will definitely open the door to huge potential of usage like self navigation, get information on a product or a person as soon you look at it/him visualize the social profile of a person… AR is using the video camera as a sensor in order to recognize and track the environment. As soon as you add a new sensor to a device like a mobile phone, you open the way for new application using this new sensor. Look at the number of disruptive application using the compass of the iPhone today. Cameras are becoming as important as the compass or GPS in your smartphone. . Marketing usage of AR may fade out or become out-dated fashion later, but the e-commerce/m-commerce usage will be a new start. Involving to the purchasing process is a way to influence everyone’s daily life; user shopping experience may also changes in someday.

DM：As we know, you have grown up and manage the regional team, structuring the Total Immersion Asia Team Hong Kong 1999 (it should be 2009), Can you describe the marketing conditions of AR at that time? And how do you compare the picture of current marketing situation and the picture of 2 years ago?

Ph: I set up the APAC team in Hong Kong in 2009; the turnover of APAC was around 5% of the total turnover of Total Immersion at that time. 1 year later, it increase to 20% and last year 2011, we already hit to 31% of the total company turnover. AR starts earlier in European countries, not many people know about AR in Asia at the beginning. So most of the AR marketing project was following the previous project in other countries, but the market grew very fast and changes from a follower to become a contributors. People know more about AR and they can have many creative ideas on AR usage nowadays.

From your perspectives, what industries or areas that in use of AR application mostly? And which are the most potential industries in the near future? Can you also share some of your work showcases (say, event interactive experience, campaign site, or mobile app, e-commerce, etc.) to elaborate with us?

Around 50% of the projects are marketing-related, including some exhibition and mobile application. 20% is coming from ecommerce and 30% is product related. Product related means we add value on top of a physical product by using AR. For example, we can enhance a children book with interactive explanation and exercises or it can be simple Greeting Cards for Valentine with an interactive and emotional animation on it . We can even enhance the feature of toys thanks to AR animation. The e-commerce part is increasing and we can see a great demand on that. It is part of our strategy today. Besides AR, cooperate with some major operator for providing customized AR application is also our strategy. For example the cooperation with KDDI in Japan – providing an AR design solution (SATCH) for the content provider to produce customized AR mobile application. We will focus more on mobile too in the future.

DM: You are being successfully selling and marketing the AR to business clients these years. From your experiences, what was the biggest challenge you’ve been face with when selling and marketing AR technology to the business clients?

Ph: There are a number of challenges we got so far for selling AR to the china market.
1) Still many people don’t really understand AR, so we need to explain a lot on that.
2) It’s difficult to recruit the right talent to work on an AR project.. AR is new and not many records can trace back.
3) Asia market is too big and very different. We need to work a lot on localization, make it adopts to different local market
4) Corporate company sometimes is scared to try new thing, but following something which is already existed.

DM: As a worldwide leader in Augmented Reality solutions, what do you think that set Total Immersion apart from other AR technology companies?

Ph: Today we are the leader in Augmented Reality; we are the largest in term of number of people, number of project delivered (2 projects was delivered every day in 2011), amount of revenue. We also got the biggest team on R&D focusing on AR only. We have 6 offices around the world, more than 135 officials Value Added Reseller which are present in 35 countries. We are doing 85% of our revenue in international. Our software platform is the biggest actually on the market which can handle PC/Mac, iPhone, Android, all kind of internet browsers which represent 160 different hardware/software platform. This is unique on the market to have 1 player handling 90% of the digital platform in the world. When a company becomes a partner of TI, he can execute a project for an exhibition with High Definition camera AND an iPhone application AND a PC/Mac based experience with the same DFusion platform from TI. This is amazing! These are all the competitive advantages for us toward other companies. We are now in a process to acquire new dynamic and innovative companies which are working in the AR market. Our competitors may become our friends!

DM: How is Total Immersion Asia Company now? How is the scale of your team? Would you share some of your latest projects in digital marketing and e-commerce fields?

Ph: We have office in Tokyo and Hong Kong, also a subcontractor team in Shanghai. Our team is composing of marketing, sales and professional services people.

DM: Do you have a team working on scientifically research and innovation? What is the percentage ratio that technique professions to others? How do you motivates your team being innovative always?

Ph: Innovation is a day to day process in our company and is part of our DNA. The talent we are recruiting already have this will of innovation in themselves. So, we don’t need to motivate them. But, in the meantime, we need to capture innovative ideas within the company and bring the bests ones to the market. To do so, we organize every month an “Innovation Sharing Session” in which anybody in the company, from the technical engineer to the sales manager, come with his idea and present it to the management team for 20mn. It can be a new feature in the product, a new usage of an existing application or any kind of idea which can bring AR to an other level.

DM: How do you recruit stuff? Is it difficult to find talents in AR-Tech related professions ? Do you accept layman or green hand and grow them up being a professional AR professionals? Share some of your experience/opinions with us please.

Ph: We use specialized headhunter to recruit people, and it takes around 3 months with intensive search to find the right person. We definitely prefer to hire a green hand which has potential and passion in his work than an experienced guy with no growth potential and no passion. We are looking for people who are able to go out of their comfort zone. You know, we have done 600% growth in 2 years in APAC. Only a high potential team can support this huge growth and grow with the company. As an example, we hired a fresh grad engineer 9 months ago to work on different projects. He has done a great job during these 9 months and now, we gave him more responsibility. He is in charge of managing a network of subcontractor which represents the equivalent of 20 engineers.

DM: What’s your plan for Total Immersion Asia in the near future? What will be the biggest challenge you are going to face by your prospective?

Ph: In our 2 years plan, we will expand the China team, open office in Korea and hope to achieve 50% of Total Immersion overall revenue. In order to do that, we will need to strengthen our Strategic Alliances in local region. For example, we have signed a strategic Alliance with KDDI in Japan; Texas Instrument in Italy, Intel, Adobe and eBay in the US. We will probably follow this path in Asian region too.

DM: How about your business in China? As far as we know, Total immersion is working close with China frequently, especially the mainland China Market. How do you see its marketing potentiality?

Ph: The business in China is growing; it represents 30% of the APAC revenue now. We hope it can increase to 50% in the future. China got a lot of potential as e-commerce and mobile ecommerce is also very strong in the market, we already contacting with the major ecommerce players for introducing AR.

DM: Do you have further plan for China? Will you start offices in mainland area?

Ph: Sure, we already got a subcontractor team in Shanghai and we are planning to open our own office there within this year.

DM: Last one, anything or pearls of wisdom would like to share with DamnDigital readers? Please

True innovation changes the way we live. Juniper research estimates that by 2012 there will be 197 million AR capable smartphone on the global market. I believe they didn’t consider the Chinese market in their estimation. This is a call for action to DamnDigital readers to start to work on this promising AR market and find new ideas usage of AR in China. There are rooms for everybody.

DM： It has been a privilege, thanks very much.

Total Immersion官方网站: http://www.t-immersion.cn/

Total Immersion官方Youku视频空间：http://i.youku.com/u/id_UMjM1Nzg0OTotal Immersion4.html

Total Immersion 微博主页：http://www.weibo.com/timmersion