Last year, Microsoft made its HoloLens Development Edition headset available to buy, priced at $3,000. Initially, developers and businesses interested in buying the device were required to have an "invite" to do so, but in August, it dropped that requirement, and also introduced the $5,000 enterprise-focused HoloLens Commercial Suite. It"s since launched HoloLens in several new markets around the world, and will soon be making it available in China.
Microsoft didn"t reveal any details about its HoloLens sales as it reported its latest quarterly earnings yesterday, but it did give an indication of its sales performance at this week"s BETT conference, which focuses on IT in education.
As The Inquirer reports, Roger Walkden, Microsoft"s Commercial Lead for HoloLens in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said that "thousands" of the mixed reality headsets have been sold so far, and that seems to be in line with the company"s expectations.
"We"re not trying to sell hundreds of thousands or millions or anything," he said. "It"s expensive, and it"s not in huge numbers. So we"re happy with the level of sales that we"ve got - I can"t tell you anything about the numbers, but it"s in thousands, not hundreds of thousands, and that"s fine. That"s all we need."
Walkden was asked about the company"s plans for HoloLens, and remarked: "There"s a roadmap. I can"t tell you anything about it, though. [Microsoft] keep that kind of information way clear of me so that I don"t accidentally tell you anything."
There"s been much speculation about Microsoft"s HoloLens plans, particularly with its efforts to open up the Windows Holographic platform to other manufacturers. But the company isn"t planning to leave the development of mixed reality devices entirely to its partners anytime soon.
Walkden added: "Just remember, this is version one, and there will be future versions. I have no news for you on when those will be. But the roadmap does exist, and we know that at this point this is the only device we"ve got, and the only one we need in order to get people started on their journey."
Indeed, that"s a point that we made in our hands-on feature last year, "Microsoft HoloLens: The future starts here". Microsoft has been working with a wide range of companies to explore how its mixed reality technology can be applied in a variety of commercial, engineering, defense, entertainment, and other scenarios - but even after a year of availability, it"s still very much an experimental device, and one that both Microsoft and its partners are still getting to grips with.
It"s therefore not at all surprising that HoloLens sales number in the "thousands", so far. But with future generations of the device - and as the cost of its technology falls - Microsoft will no doubt be hoping that its mixed reality headsets eventually mature into another billion-dollar business.
Source: The Inquirer