Mobile augmented reality is creating a helluva buzz this year, but when will it start making serious revenues?

Juniper Research has just released a report claiming the sector will be worth $732 million by 2014, at which point there will be 350 million AR-enabled handsets.

You'd be forgiven for raising a cynical eyebrow at the revenue figure, especially since the whole area of mobile AR - and its business models - is so new. Apps like Layar are causing a stir, but still exploring how to make money.

Juniper says the revenues will come from a mix of paid app downloads, subscription services and advertising, but thinks that next year (2010) the sector will only generate $2 million of revenues.

What sort of apps will be responsible for the subsequent explosion? Juniper thinks it'll be AR-enabled games, with enterprise-focused AR apps chipping in from 2012 onwards.

Author Dr Windsor Holden warns that there could be legal hurdles ahead, though.

"The problem is that the embryonic nature of the technology means that we have no legal or regulatory framework in place which specifically covers augmented reality," he says.

"For example, can a house-owner legitimately demand that a geotag of his or her property be removed? Would that third party require prior permission before creating a tag?"

Even so, augmented reality developers and startups will prefer to focus on the big figure. $732 million by 2014? Time to see if VC firms agree...