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Microsoft ( MSFT ) announced Monday that it will begin shipping its HoloLens computer glasses to developers in the U.S. and Canada on March 30. It started taking pre-orders for the augmented reality goggles on Monday. The Development Edition of HoloLens costs $3,000 and is targeted to software developers and enterprises. Microsoft is taking a gradual approach to commercializing HoloLens. It wants to expand the software ecosystem and drive hardware costs lower before it expands availability for the product. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told the BBC last July that it could be a “five-year journey” to roll out the devices to consumers. The HoloLens developer kit comes with a handful of initial apps, including a Skype app, a 3D modeling app called HoloStudio, and HoloTour, an app that provides 3D virtual trips to global landmarks. It also has included three mixed reality games in the kits. “Today represents a monumental step forward,” Alex Kipman, a technical fellow in Microsoft’s operating system group, said in a blog post . “This is the first step in our journey to consumers. A step focused on our commercial partnerships and on supporting developers, who will help pave the way to consumer availability with amazing and new holographic experiences.” HoloLens glasses overlay digital images in a user’s field of vision, creating new ways to interact with data. Users can control what they see with verbal commands and gestures. Some experts predict that holographic computing will be the next step in personal computers. HoloLens is a fully untethered, self-contained, Windows 10 device. It does not have to link to a separate PC or mobile phone to work. The headset features a custom-built Holographic Processing Unit and an Intel ( INTC ) 32-bit architecture. It sports 2 gigabytes of RAM, 64GB of flash storage, and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. HoloLens contains a host of sensors, include an inertial measurement unit, an ambient light sensor, four microphones and four environment understanding cameras. It also has a 2-megapixel camera for taking photos and videos. HoloLens has see-through holographic lenses that use an advanced optical projection system to generate multidimensional, full-color holograms with low latency. The developer kit includes a new Clicker accessory for controlling HoloLens without gestures or voice commands. Battery life for active use is two to three hours. Alphabet ( GOOGL ) is developing its own augmented reality glasses in Google Glass. Scalper1 News
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