The headset overlays digital graphics onto the real world using transparent lenses and the newly released Windows 10. With the headset, Microsoft says, everything from gaming, through streaming media in apps like Netflix, to productivity apps, Skype video calling, or even creating virtual 3D objects in the new HoloStudio are possible in a full standalone wearable computer.
Research firm Forrester predicts that mixed-reality computing will catch on by 2020, with further holographic capability offerings from Apple and Google. Despite the cost, there will be millions of people likely to buy HoloLens by the end of 2016 – as Microsoft first targets media and entertainment, and gamers in particular, who are eager to experience the next big thing.
"HoloLens will expand the way brands interact with consumers forever more, working its way through industry after industry, much the way web and mobile experiences did before it," writes Vice President and Principal Analyst James McQuivey.
HoloLens will also have profound implications on the enterprise.
"[It] will offer many of the best features of virtual reality and augmented reality, giving business leaders a powerful new tool to enable workforce scenarios like remote collaboration, field work, and training," writes Vice President and Principal Analyst J.P. Gownder. "It has the potential to radically improve how enterprises conduct business in each of those areas and is a powerful platform for creating interaction innovations."
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