If you review the section where is defined in core (page 221) No where does it discuss seeing persona, it goes on AROs for two pages, but no one mention of personas. In-fact it talked about glowing auras around friend making the various colors as they relate to you but nothing al all talks about personas, ether yours or anyone elses.
I can cut and paste in the whole section if you like. It seems very odd that if everyone has persona, which should be visable in AR that it's not all discussed in the section specifically addressing what you see.
A persona is more or less what it sounds like: a person
in the Matrix. A persona is the combination of a user
and a device that gets the user onto the Matrix. The
fact that the device has a user overrides the device’s
normal icon status, turning it into a persona. A persona
is usually based on a commlink, cyberdeck, or rigged
vehicle or drone, although technomancers are a sort of
device-less persona.
It is equally valid to interpret this as only as VR. As all device and ability discussed involved full VR and it doesn't specifically reference AR anywhere in here. In point of fact Rigged vehicle implies full VR.
PANs
Most individuals have multiple electronic devices
on them at once, and having icons for each one show
up would provide too much visual clutter in the Matrix.
Often, what shows up instead is an icon representing an
individual’s personal area network. This icon often looks
similar to the physical device that serves as master for the
network, such as a commlink, but individuals will sometimes
choose a design or logo that means something
to them (such as sports team logos, Concrete Dreams
album covers, or corporate designs). Some devices are
not merged into the single PAN icon; if an individual is
carrying a wireless-enabled gun—or any other wireless
device that might kill you—it will show up separately so
that it can be identified rapidly. Unless, of course, the
user has gone to the trouble to hide that icon, but that’ll
be covered later.
If your correct and any time you connect to a device that connects you to the matrix your Commlink becomes a persona, and there for not a device icon. So if is a device icon it not a persona. So a commlink in its normal function mode is not a persona. So ether the interpretation that it's AR persona is wrong, a commlink doesn't connect to the matrix, or this section is wrong.
It's also worth noting, concerning convergence when the core was released it wasn't possible to converge on commlink. Without some additional hardware released in DT a lot matrix action were actually impossible. You need dongles to really make convergence on commlink actually possible, as you can't actually take those matrix action without the attack and sleaze matrix attributes.
(I can cut and paste the section if you want, but it's true and I don't feel like wasting the space.)
ONLINE FAME
COST: 4 KARMA
Congratulations, you’re famous! Well, sort of. You are
only famous as a Matrix persona. Maybe you’re a famous
blogger, an online gaming hero, or a cyberpunk
roleplaying-game freelance author (be still your beating
heart). People know your icon and your signature,
but even your most ardent fan wouldn’t recognize you
if they passed you in the street on a brightly lit day. Further,
none would actually believe you if you tried to tell
them (quite the opposite, in fact). You gain +2 dice to
your Social tests and +2 dice to your Social Limit when
interacting with someone who knows you, but only
when you interact with them via the Matrix. Characters
who see your icon are able to identify you with a successful
Intuition + Logic (2) Test.
Any character who is able to see both your icon and
your physical self is thrown into a conflict. Either they will
believe you are truly him, or they will refuse to believe
and think you are trying to impersonate, erm, yourself.
If they believe you, your bonus becomes +3 on Social
Tests and Social Limit toward your ecstatic fan, which
now applies to all interactions, not just Matrix ones.
However, if they do not believe you, you suffer –4
to all Social interactions. In addition, the character may
outright attack you or call the police to report you.
To determine a character’s reaction, the gamemaster
may roll a single D6. On a roll of 5 or 6, the character
believes you. On any other roll, the character does not.
So how do they possibly disbelieve you? If what you're saying is true.
DT 66
Persona Firmware: With two packs of parts, you can
add the ability to run a persona to a device. If the device
already has this capability, you can’t add it again.
So not ALL device that connect to the matrix have the ability inherently.
DT 176
AUGMENTED REALITY
Augmented reality mashes together the Matrix run with
the physicality of the traditional run. Noise, or simply
an overwhelming firewall, can prevent a hacker from
accessing a secure system from a safe distance. The
good ol’ days of hackers hiding away from the action
alone in the Matrix are over. To be successful, hackers
may need to get personally involved in the run with
their fellow shadowrunners. They must keep an eye on
the happenings in meatspace and cyberspace, sometimes
seeing an overlay of both realities at once. This
technique requires that the gamemaster keep close
track of both scenarios and feed stimuli to the player in
real-time. Here are a couple of tips for gamemasters to
get the most out of this method into their games:
• Rolling Tests: Gamemasters should intersperse
the hacker’s tests with those of the other players
so as not to break up the gameplay between the
two groups. During Combat Turns, characters
are limited by their actions and the pacing of
the scenario. A hacker has to monitor the Matrix
while also making certain a security guard
doesn’t pop a cap in her ass.
• Hacking During Combat: Make certain that the
scenario includes areas that hacking can directly
affect. If the team is squaring off against security
and a call for reinforcements goes out, the hacker
may be able to delay the message or possibly
reroute it. Hackers can seal entrances, jam
monitoring equipment, open locks, and disrupt
communications.
• Bricking: A hacker with enough skill can brick
enemy gear, tap into their commlinks, and generally
make their lives miserable.
This was considerably more compact but notice it also doesn't mention persona, anywhere.
In summary All section addressing AR do NOT address persona's so nothing in the core or any hacking book suggest you see them in AR at all. In fact the discussion of seeing people suggests you see something totally different. Next It's possible to read you quoted section specifily from the view of VR only, and the language rigger suggest it requires VR. So i'm saying again, do you think more likely that all introduction are wrong, and all section on AR are wrong, and example are wrong, or do you think it's much more likely as is implied repeatedly that Persona only occur in VR?