NASA astronaut Scott Kelly wearing the HoloLens aboard the International Space Station. Image: NASA/Public Domain
Microsoft has released its holographic headset HoloLens outside of the US and Canada, with shipments planned before the end of the year. Developers, still, are the target market.
Hologram fans in France, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia rejoice; Microsoft’s HoloLens is on the way.
Now available for pre-order, the impressive-looking headset will be shipped before the year is out, just as the augmented reality and virtual reality market really begins to grow.
The plan remains to target developers, with no obvious timeframe on when the commercial side of things will really kick off.
A self-contained holographic computer, the HoloLens runs on Windows 10 and, since being opened up to developers earlier this year, Microsoft is eyeing the mass market now.
The product price is $3,000, €3,299, £2,719, AUS$3,308 or NZ$5,527, depending on the market customers are in.
Last year, Microsoft revealed its HoloLens, bidding to be the turning point in consumer-based augmented reality. It was all very secretive at first but once developers were welcomed on board earlier this year, both interest and sales grew.
Using a simple premise of watching football with friends around the house, Microsoft produced a promotional video in February of how it believes it can revolutionise the entertainment industry.
In short? Your match isn’t restricted to your TV screen. Not even nearly.
“Since the launch of HoloLens, we have seen really passionate developers and world-class companies develop groundbreaking computing experiences, experiences only possible on HoloLens” said Microsoft’s Alex Kipman.
“When we set out to pioneer the mixed-reality category, we knew that many of the best innovations would be discovered when others got their hands on the technology. It has been quite inspiring to see what our partners have built and what individual developers have created.
“Together, we have only scratched the surface for what mixed reality can do. I can’t wait to see what happens next as we welcome these new countries to our holographic landscape.”
