According to a recent announcement, you can officially apply for Microsoft’s Hololens developer edition. The virtual reality headset will be available in the first quarter of 2016, but it comes at a hefty price – $3,000.
The announcement was made by Microsoft Tuesday.
The company’s VP for its Windows and Devices division said that the headset can help to the development of health care, entertainment, and productivity apps like no other device on the market could.
Hololens is actually a Windows computer that can generate 3-D versions of computer generated objects that can blend with real world objects like you never seen before. Tech experts that tested the device praised the gadget, and the news of a development kit took them by surprise.
You can now officially apply for Microsoft’s Hololens developer edition on the company’s official site, but you will need an invitation first because Microsoft wants to sell the kit to developers and commercial customers alone.
The kit is not suitable for people who want to play Halo quite yet. The kit’s creators said that it is not much different from the version presented this summer at E3. So, expect it to still have a narrow field of view.
In June, tech editors who tested the headgear were uber impressed. Most of them said that they wanted one. Yet, it is not clear why Microsoft decided to make the Hololens development kit available on invite only.
Other kits from Oculus Rift and Google Glass for instance were available for everyone to purchase. We may assume that Microsoft wants to have a certain control over the quality and quantity of the first customized holographic applications for the headset. And, that may be a clever marketing strategy to lure more customers into buying the augmented reality device.
Microsoft declined to disclose just how many invitations were available, or under which conditions those invitations would be granted. We know that all kinds of developers can apply.
Software developers, for example, will need to be enrolled in the Windows Insider program before applying. Plus, they are limited to two headsets per person unless they are part of a larger project aimed at designing large-scale applications.
But when Hololens development kit will hit the market, Facebook’s Occulus Rift and HTC Vive would already have fully developed commercial versions. The two rival headsets are designed to work with Windows computers. Plus, Facebook’s Gear VR, a cheaper version of the headset which will retail for $99, is slated to be released by the end of the year.
Image Source: Arageek
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