Microsoft HoloLens up for pre-order today, if you can afford it

By Joel Hruska

Over the last few weeks, both theOculus Rift and HTC Vive have gone up for pre-order. Now, according to a pulled Fortune article, Microsoft’s HoloLens is doing the same. Microsoft is reportedly targeting a March 30 launch date for its Augmented Reality (AR) headset, and the new device will launch with several beta software suites alongside the physical hardware.

When HTC and Oculus announced their hardware, I noted that I couldn’t recommend pre-ordering either solution. I don’t have that problem with Microsoft’s HoloLens, not because I think ordering it is a good idea, but because precious few people will be able to afford the $3,000 price tag. Microsoft will bundle a software suite with the headset, which includes:

HoloStudio: A 3D resource creation suite and teaching tool.
Skype: It’s Skype, but with holograms. No word on whether Robert Picardo will reprise his role as The Doctor to snark you through a phone call.
HoloTour: An application with a 360-degree panoramic view option, meant to create the illusion that the user is actually there. This particular application could have a heavy lift compared to VR, which surrounds more of the user’s visual field and creates a more compelling experience.

Windows Central reports that a “mixed reality” application, ActionGram, will debut later this summer and allow people to combine HoloLens displayed material with physical reality.

HoloLens: Next Big Thing, or Kinect 3.0?

Microsoft is clearly launching HoloLens towards professionals and content creators and the headset could be huge in that space. With any luck, Redmond has learned its lesson after Kinect, and won’t try to take a genuinely interesting peripheral with science and research applications and turn it into a mass gaming peripheral.

People have (and continue) to develop interesting uses for both the first and second-generation Kinect peripherals, years after Microsoft killed Kinect bundling in the Xbox One. The one place the system never succeeded was with the Xbox 360, despite shipping tens of millions of units. Microsoft and its various developers were never able to create a compelling reason for gamers to want it, and the company doubled-down on the Kinect hardware for the Xbox One launch. Estimates of the Kinect’s price put it as high as $100 at launch — meaning gamers who bought a $500 Xbox One were paying $100 for a camera they didn’t want or think they needed.

HoloLens is very different from Kinect, but the entertainment uses MS has shown have generally required lots of room and open floor space. It was an interesting peripheral that never fit in the consumer world, but found second life in a variety of business, science, and commercial settings.

Microsoft’s best bet to build a long-term AR project that does have consumer applications is to iterate on a professional version of the hardware and software first. If it does, then AR might one day go head to head with VR for control of your face computer. Doing it that way also helps make sure that when the next-generation of consoles rolls around, Sony and Microsoft won’t be trying to pitch two completely different experiences (VR versus AR) at developers and gamers.