Dutch mobile company Layar has formed an agreement with one of the top three mobile handset manufacturers to develop augmented reality capable phones for the mass market. The company is also introducing a platform for producers and publishers of AR content that seek to commercialize their developments.

The twin efforts will enable tens of millions of people to view Layar AR content on their mobile phones in 2010, the company claims.

Mysterious Agreement

Layar is not the first company to attract commercial AR content, but it is the first to create a platform for businesses to sell their content, according to ReadWriteWeb. Layar's announcement suggests the company has all of the ingredients to take AR - especially for ads - mainstream in the near future.

It would be nice to know exactly which handset manufacturer with which it has inked an agreement, "but the implication seems to be that Layar will be pre-installed on many of the phones made by a major manufacturer in several regions - no app store or download necessary," writes Mashable.

Market Cred

Layar has the market creditability to realize this goal. It was one of the first full-featured augmented reality apps to debut on both Android and the iPhone, Mashable notes. A platform for third-party augmented reality developers, Layar allows developers to build 'layers' for the app displaying all sorts of information as an overlay on the image of the real world.

Late last year Layar introduced version 3.0, which allowed for the placement of 3D-rendered objects in the space in front of the viewer - like a Goodyear Blimp floating above or a rendering of a building yet to be built, Mashable said.