Move over app entrepreneurs — tech’s next great platform will be in 3-D.

Creating apps has gone mainstream. Hundreds of startup success stories, combined with dramatizations like “The Social Network,” have inspired hopeful entrepreneurs everywhere to try their hand at app development. But rather than working on the newest viral smartphone app, the upcoming wave of aspiring millennial millionaires should place their bets on 3-D technology.

Last Thursday, a small Israel-based company called Mantis Vision announced it will release a tablet specifically designed for real-time 3-D content creation. This tablet, named Aquila, specializes in photographing and scanning objects, then turning them into interactive 3-D scenes on the go. Best known for its work on Google’s 3-D tablet attempt — Project Tango — Mantis Vision is hoping to bridge the gap between 3-D hardware makers and mainstream society.

“Aquila will be the first tool of its kind for content creators and a variety of commercial and vertical market applications,” said Mantis Vision CEO, Amihai Loven, in a Sept. 18 Marketwatch article. “Because it is available to all developers and OEMs, makers will have unbounded access to a brave new 3-D content ecosystem.”

Due to the high volume of smartphone apps on the market today, a lot of newer apps are simply copying the interfaces and features of their competition instead of trying to being innovative. The 3-D market, however, is untapped and waiting for something or someone to take control.

3-D technology isn’t something people currently use on a daily basis, but there are signs that that could change soon. One of 3-D’s most practical uses so far is 3-D printing. Acoustic guitars, prosthetic limbs and even a racecar are some of the notable 3-D-printed items that have been produced just this past year.

Video games are also starting to join the party. On Sept. 17, GameSpot announced that NBA 2K15 for PS4 and Xbox One will feature an option to capture a 3-D image of your face using the system’s camera to create your very own NBA character. The list will continue to grow and become more diverse as more people become exposed to the third dimension’s benefits.

It’s uncommon for the hardware to be ahead of the software, but that is what’s happening. Thousand dollar 3-D TVs are having trouble selling because there is simply not enough 3-D content out there yet. The technology has been around for too long to not have more practical and commercial uses.

The human mind can come up with some pretty cool stuff when it has no limitations and access to the right tools — and finally those tools are on their way. Developers can register to get an Aquila tablet by Mantis Vision for $925 at the Qualcomm Uplinq Mobile Developer Conference this week in San Francisco, according to a Sept. 18 CNET article. Loven also said the technology will come to devices on the market by early 2015.

Mantis Vision could do for 3-D technology what smartphones did for applications. The Aquila tablet will give even non-techie people a chance to experiment and get creative with such a powerful device. We’ve learned from social media powers like Twitter and Vine just how creative people can get once a new platform is available to the public.

If the device functions well and the design is clean, the Aquila tablet could be the missing link to increase 3-D technology’s popularity in society and open the door to a brand new playing field.

Smartphone apps are what’s in but 3-D is what’s next. It’s time for 3-D content to catch up with the parts. History shows that if you build it, they will come.

Aarick Knighton is a junior information management and technology major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at adknight@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @aarickurban.

Published on September 25, 2014 at 12:20 am