Microsoft Hololens Development Edition: Australian Price And Release Date

The Microsoft HoloLens Development Edition and Microsoft HoloLens Commercial Suite is now available for pre-order in Australia, exclusively from the Microsoft Store.

Here’s all the details.

Devices will start to ship in late November — with the Development Edition costing $4,369 and the Commercial Suite costing $7,269.

The Hololens is the world’s first self-contained holographic computer, and Microsoft is experiencing interest from developers and commercial customers and partners around the globe for collaboration with the device.

“Since the launch of Microsoft HoloLens, we have seen really passionate developers and world-class companies develop groundbreaking computing experiences — experiences only possible on HoloLens” said Alex Kipman, technical fellow, Microsoft Windows and Devices Group.

“When we set out to pioneer the mixed-reality category, we knew that many of the best innovations would be discovered when others got their hands on the technology. It has been quite inspiring to see what our partners have built and what individual developers have created. Together, we have only scratched the surface for what mixed reality can do. I can’t wait to see what happens next as we welcome these new countries to our holographic landscape.”

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HoloLens customers are developing innovative solutions that are already having a positive impact on their business. These customers are the early adopters of what Microsoft calls its “mixed-reality solutions”, and is promising exponential growth in the years to come. According to IDC, worldwide revenues for the augmented reality and virtual reality market will grow from $5.2 billion in 2016 to more than $162 billion in 2020.

Windows 10 will be updated in 2017 to include Windows Holographic, the platform that powers the mixed-reality experiences enabling people to perceive the world differently, break down barriers, and bring the virtual and the physical worlds together.

In June at Computex, Microsoft announced that Windows Holographic is coming to Windows 10 PCs and head-mounted displays. The development opportunity is significant — as all holographic apps are Universal Windows apps, and all Universal Windows apps can be made to run on the Windows Holographic platform. “This means the investments that developers of all shapes and sizes make today will take advantage of the growing ecosystem of Windows Holographic devices,” Microsoft says.

Microsoft first announced HoloLens in January 2015 and shipped to developers and commercial partners in Canada and the United States on in late March this year. Since the launch of HoloLens, Microsoft has seen innovation across the board as a diverse set of companies and partners breaks new ground within their industries.

NASA is one of those partners. Together with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Microsoft have created groundbreaking mixed-reality applications.

The OnSight project enables scientists to use HoloLens to “work on Mars” together, directly from their offices, allowing them a means to plan and, along with the Curiosity Mars Rover, conduct science operations on the Red Planet. By extending the OnSight project, in September “Destination: Mars” at the Kennedy Space Center was opened to the public, allowing visitors the only opportunity possible today to walk around the Red Planet, just as NASA scientists do today.

The Sidekick project brought HoloLens to the International Space Station to enable station crews to get remote expert assistance when and where they need it, reducing crew training requirements and increasing the efficiency at which astronauts can work in space. The NASA team created the ProtoSpace HoloLens application to build the next generation of spacecraft and space rovers; the application brings 3-D spacecraft designs into the world to help improve the design process.

And now with today’s global expansion of HoloLens, more partners are set to deliver new experiences that will allow their employees and customers to discover new ways to work.

Inger Lawes, Saab Australia’s Mixed Reality Applications Program Head says “Microsoft HoloLens is the perfect platform for learning, collaborating or visualizing complex information. For example, in the training environment, it allows both trainers and trainees to share a visually rich interactive experience where the real world can be overlaid with fully interactive holograms.”

This technology is transformational, and Lawes said Saab has had significant interest from a diverse range of industries — like healthcare and mining — keen to understand how Microsoft HoloLens and tailored mixed-reality applications can add new value to their businesses.

Audi is also getting involved. “A technology like Microsoft HoloLens could open up new opportunities for our services in many ways-from engineering reviews and collaboration to after sales scenarios and new ways of customer experiences – there are many use cases to be realised,” said Jan Pflüger, Coordination Augmented- & Virtual Reality at Audi IT.

“We innovate to improve service quality, cut time and costs required for maintenance, as well as combining it with a new way of customer communication, a mixed reality solution like HoloLens seems very promising in achieving these goals. We see an exciting future in this technology and look forward to expanding its use at Audi.”

You can pre-order a dev edition of the Hololens for $4,369 now on the Microsoft website.


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