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$3500 HoloLens 2 Introduced at MWC
March 04, 2019
 
Microsoft took the wraps off HoloLens 2 augmented reality headsetat MWC. Despite massive technical progress in areas such as field of view – Alex Kipman, Technical Fellow for AI and Mixed Reality in the Cloud and AI Group at Microsoft, described the improvement since the initial HoloLens as "the equivalent of moving from a 720p television to a 2K television for each of your eyes" – and interest from enterprise users ranging from construction to the US military (that last one not being popular among some at Microsoft), some analysts and media report that only consumer products can be exciting. HoloLens 2 is a third-generation device as Microsoft seemingly skipped over the second-generation release. However there are viable product categories that aren't aimed at the consumer space, from tractors to cranes to medical devices to servers to power plants to the pipes and wires that carry services around the place. There's plenty of tech out there that survives and thrives without all the consumer space hype that products like the iPhone generate. There are people willing to plunk down the $3,500 for a HoloLens 2, it's perfectly understandable why Microsoft has chosen not to make this a consumer product. 
 

• First, as good as it seems, it's probably not good enough for mass-market consumer usage. It's not immersive enough. It's not comfortable enough. It's too expensive. 

 

• Next, there's no consumer metaverse for HoloLens. For it to be a success with consumers, it would need an app store brimming with apps. That doesn't exist, and the number of developers willing to put the time and effort and resources into developing apps for a $3,500 bit of kit is not going to be that great because they know the market just won't be there.

 

• Finally, Microsoft is learning lessons from Google Glass. Releasing HoloLens 2 into the consumer space would likely result in more of the same. It's important not to let our idea of tech, and what is big and what isn't, be dominated by companies like Apple and Samsung. While there's no doubt that the iPhone has transformed the tech landscape, and changed the way we live and work there's much more to the tech space than a new smartphone every year.