Mobile augmented reality networks still have to prove they can live up to the hype, but that isn’t stopping companies from jumping on the bandwagon at increasing rates. Today, Tagwhat is doing just that by launching in private beta (we have invitation codes for readers) for iPhone and Android users.

Powered by Iryss, which also offers customized mobile and AR software integration solutions for enterprises, Tagwhat is a consumer-facing product that allows people to tag real-world locations and attach information, reviews, links, photos, videos, notes and so on to those particular spots, whether tied to their current location or not.

In addition to accessing geo-contextual information, users can also scan a product’s bar code in the viewfinder to pull up information like price comparisons or coupons, as well as instantly contact a nearby friend in their preferred method (call, SMS, email, tweet …).

Users can follow other people and merge their respective ‘markers’ together in an effort to build a global network of augmented reality hotspots.

If you want to give it a go, you can sign up here and use invitation code ar7890 – the first 100 TC readers to register get in.

On a sidenote: Iryss is the new incarnation of GoWeb3D, one of the more prominent providers of ‘layars’ to the popular Layar AR Browser, including overlays for Wikipedia, Yelp and Flickr.