HoloLens 2 could represent Microsoft's next significant step in mobile

HoloLens 2 could represent Microsoft's next significant step in mobile

JASON WARD

4 Feb 2019 24

HoloLens, the tether-less, wearable, Windows 10 PC that projects "holographic images into the field of view of the wearer, enabling augmented-reality (AR) computing excited the tech world in 2015. The technology, which began as a gaming tool under the leadership of Microsoft Technical Fellow for AI Perception and Mixed Reality in the company's Cloud and AI Group Alex Kipman proved to many that Microsoft is still innovating. Microsoft and other companies see mixed reality as the future of computing.

When Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella saw HoloLens in action he envisioned applications beyond its gaming foundations and supported further innovation that brought the tech to where it is today. Though HoloLens has endured criticism for its limited field of view and high price tag, Microsoft has been successful with remaining true to its strategy to deploy it in tailored enterprise and niche industries. AR supported surgeries, the army, NASA, the education sector, factory workers, and the automobile industry have benefitted from local, collaborative and remote uses of HoloLens. 

Alex Kipman says smartphones are dead

Kipman famously, or infamously, said:

The phone is already dead. People just haven't realized. The potential of these devices is that they could one day replace your phones, TVs, and all these screens. Once your apps, videos, information, and even social life are projected into your line of sight, you won't need any other screen-based gadgetry … [it's] the 'natural conclusion' of mixed reality.

Admittedly Kipman is a visionary who sees a future other people may not and that requires tech that may not yet be at the level necessary to support the vision. But Kipman isn't just a visionary. He is also an inventor who is actively building the computing-communication vision, with Microsoft, to which he is espoused. Microsoft's mixed reality strategy is being evolved in concert with Microsoft's Always-Connected PC (ACPC) plans with Qualcomm and others, the company's adaptable Windows Core OS and CShell strategies, the evolution and integration of mobile processors, and integrated A.I. that support the company's edge computing vision.

HoloLens 2 may not be the realization of Kipman's vision where AR glasses could replace smartphones, but as an ACPC on the cellular roadmap, it could certainly be the beginning.

h/t Ox