Microsoft has begun selling a HoloLens dev kit priced at $3000 that helps companies to develop software, but interestingly enough, Kipman asserts the product itself is consumer-ready, saying, “There’s nothing development kit-ish about it." However, before simply dropping it into the marketplace, he believes the HoloLens needs to be more substantial than just a great piece of hardware, as it also needs solid support with plenty of content, explaining:
Kipman recently backed up his claims of the HoloLens being pretty much complete in terms of the headset itself at a TED conference in Vancouver, by demonstrating some of the various ways the device can be used. During the presentation, the HoloLens creator immersed the stage in a vibrant, fantastical forest, turned the area into the moon, and then Mars. Plus, he even took part in a video conversation with a NASA astronaut who was a block away at the time.
“If a consumer bought it today, they would have 12 things to do with it. And they would say ‘Cool, I bought a $3,000 product that I can do 12 things with and now it is collecting dust.’”
Obviously, the HoloLens has plenty of potential, as further evidenced in our preview of the headset, but Kipman doesn’t want people’s interest for the product to burn out upon release like it did with the Kinect. Although the motion-sensor device made it into the Guinness Book of World Records by destroying sales records with 10 million units sold in 60 days, Kipman described fans’ waning enthusiasm for the Kinect as a disheartening occurrence, saying, “It was not a pleasant experience." Surely, he doesn’t want to go through that again.
Although HoloLens has competition in Meta’s augmented reality headset and the Google-backed Magic Leap — both of which could go on sale before Microsoft’s AR device — Kipman is willing to exercise patience in order to make his product as perfect as possible, saying, “I’m in no rush," which is the best mentality to have during the creative and developmental process. Furthermore, considering the fact that virtual and augmented reality tools are a burgeoning market, and with some already believing the kits to be too expensive, Microsoft is on the right track in showing self-restraint in order to make the HoloLens more than just a novelty.
Microsoft’s HoloLens is currently without an official release date.
Source: Recode (via GameSpot)
