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Microsoft has opened up pre-orders for its Hololens augmented reality headset today with the first developer units set to ship out at the end of March. As previously reported, the developer edition of the headset will cost $3000 so it is an expensive investment but that price will likely come down for the consumer release, which won't be coming until “further down the line”.
Unfortunately, the 30th of March shipping date only applies to those in the US and Canada so right now, we don't know when developers in other parts of the world will be able to get hold of one.
Aside from the headset itself, Microsoft is currently making seven apps for the Hololens, which will be given to those who buy the hardware. These apps will be basic experiences, though, designed to encourage developers to create their own apps and push what the AR headset is capable of.
KitGuru Says: The Hololens is an exciting device but it is going to be quite a while before regular consumers will be able to get their hands on one. That said, it will be interesting to see what developers can start coming up with later this year.
What is it made out of? Solid Platinum?
Really though, I don’t see this going well at all. Who wants to develop for a platform nobody can afford? If this was the only VR in town sure I could understand then… but it isn’t.
Occulus prototypes were not horridly expensive, so lots of developers were willing to get going on it. If I were microsoft I would GIVE these for free, to interested and able developers. Nickle and dimeing your business partners is not a good idea when there is better deals out there for them.
1st. It’s a dev kit. $3000 isn’t meant to be an indication of rrp.
2nd. It’s not VR, it’s not meant to compete with VR. Its augmented reality.
3rd. I doubt MS wants every shitty indie dev to have one of these and be making Minecraft clones. What Hololens is going to be used for may not even be gaming. The price is set high to weed out amateur devs.