Apple is prioritizing AR — and that’s a good thing

Until recently, it was easy to dismiss augmented reality as at best a luxury add-on to cellphones, at worst a gimmicky marketing stunt. From Pokémon Go to Android’s AR face filters to Snapchat’s Lens Studio, AR applications could be (literally and figuratively) game-changing, but at their core, they were about fun, not fundamentally changing business models.

But while that dismissive view of AR may apply to some of its more headline-grabbing applications, something more significant is afoot in the burgeoning space. The latest evidence: Longtime Apple executive Frank Casanova has been named the company’s first senior director of worldwide product marketing for augmented reality, signaling the tech giant’s commitment to making its mark in AR.