HoloLens Developer Edition Coming In Q1 2016 For Painful $3,000

News
By Rexly Peñaflorida
published

We haven't heard a lot from Microsoft on HoloLens recently, but it made an appearance at the company's latest event in New York City, where we found out that it's getting a developer kit, set for release in Q1 of 2016.

However, even for a device primarily for developers, it's still quite expensive, with a $3000 price tag, as opposed to the DK2 from Oculus, for example, which costs $350. (Granted, this is comparing apples to oranges somewhat, but that's still an enormous price gap.)

If developers are still interested in grabbing a HoloLens kit, they can start applying today. Applicants can only request a maximum of two devices, must reside in the United States or Canada, and participate in the Windows Insider program. Even after the applications, you won't find out until you're approved to pre-order HoloLens until January 2016. After that, HoloLens will ship sometime in the first quarter of 2016.

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Rexly Peñaflorida
17 Comments Comment from the forums
  • DelightfulDucklings
    I don't really see the validity of comparing the price to the Oculus DK2, they're incredibly different products. I was expecting it to probably be closer to $2000 but this doesn't surprise me too much, it's an incredible piece of tech given the demo's they've shown and I'm really looking forward to a consumer version in the future.
    Reply
  • Puiucs
    I don't really see the validity of comparing the price to the Oculus DK2, they're incredibly different products. I was expecting it to probably be closer to $2000 but this doesn't surprise me too much, it's an incredible piece of tech given the demo's they've shown and I'm really looking forward to a consumer version in the future.
    No matter how you look at it the price should not be over $1000-$1500. We're talking about a product MS wants to push to the general public. There is nothing in it that should warrant such a high price even if they picked the best hardware they could find. No normal dev will buy it.
    The oculus for example sold extremely well and it managed to create a market that already has a lot of content even if the consumer version of the product hasn't launched yet. It's ecosystem is very healthy and it gives buyers a lot of reasons to be interested in it.
    Reply
  • jasonelmore
    I don't really see the validity of comparing the price to the Oculus DK2, they're incredibly different products. I was expecting it to probably be closer to $2000 but this doesn't surprise me too much, it's an incredible piece of tech given the demo's they've shown and I'm really looking forward to a consumer version in the future.
    No matter how you look at it the price should not be over $1000-$1500. We're talking about a product MS wants to push to the general public. There is nothing in it that should warrant such a high price even if they picked the best hardware they could find. No normal dev will buy it.
    The oculus for example sold extremely well and it managed to create a market that already has a lot of content even if the consumer version of the product hasn't launched yet. It's ecosystem is very healthy and it gives buyers a lot of reasons to be interested in it.

    a 2K price is not that bad considering this is bleeding edge tech and all the R&D needs to be paid for. The first Macbook Air was $1500 for example.

    over the years price will come down, and demand will go up. This isn't a device microsoft needs to get into every single living room. This is a business device that the enterprise segment will eat up.

    The enthusiast is just gonna have to pony up more $ if they want this kind of bleeding edge tech.
    Reply
  • mamasan2000
    If Devs don't pick it up, why would consumers?
    Oculus DK1 and 2 is out there, people have it. Theres content for it. That's a big advantage. Hololens might be cooler etc but if noone uses it, it's dead.

    Besides, what does Hololens really do that would make a huge difference?
    I can think up tons of areas for VR, for Hololens, not so much. Check my mail in 3D? Like I care.
    Reply
  • DelightfulDucklings
    16740413 said:
    If Devs don't pick it up, why would consumers?
    Oculus DK1 and 2 is out there, people have it. Theres content for it. That's a big advantage. Hololens might be cooler etc but if noone uses it, it's dead.

    Besides, what does Hololens really do that would make a huge difference?
    I can think up tons of areas for VR, for Hololens, not so much. Check my mail in 3D? Like I care.

    It has a lot more potential for practical workspace type uses than what you're thinking of such as 3D design, you have to think of non-traditional uses to really get the most out of it.
    Reply
  • DeadlyDays
    Maybe, just maybe, they aren't aiming for ANY consumers to get ahold of it. Maybe they still consider the product and technology to be too immature, and current hardware to be too expensive/slow at the size for the product to be relevant. But in order to get feedback and lay the legwork for the larger developers of major commercial applications they want to get them involved. In which case the price point makes sense, it is for large powerhouse software developers like Adobe/autoCAD/whatnot
    Reply
  • agnickolov
    HoloLens is not for consumers. Microsoft has stated this already numerous times. It's squarely aimed at business applications. As such, the price tag of $3000 is perfectly reasonable.
    Reply
  • itmoba
    It's a developer kit, not a consumer product. Developer kits have traditionally been more expensive than their counterpart. For example, the cost of a Xbox 360 developer kit used to be $40,000. Yet, why would one complain when $3000 for a HoloLens kit is less than 10% of $40,000 -- it's a drop in the bucket to be perfectly honest.

    People should be happy that the Oculus developer kit costs so little -- it's amazing that it's being sold at an affordable price for regular people. Still, you can't compare the two technologies. At first glance, HoloLens appears to be a bit more technologically sophisticated, but it's ultimately up to the developers and Microsoft to develop an experience suitable for people, be it or be it not in the business world.
    Reply
  • Schepkens Hendrik
    At this price range it will fail! the DK should be a bare minimum price and they should not make any money on it because its what is needed to get wide adaptation. Either their price will have to drop soon or they wil fail.
    Reply
  • LuxZg
    itmoba and DeadlyDays seem to be only two sensible people in this comments section... It's obvious this is early program aimed at big developers, and it's almost a beta at that. And 3.000$ fee is not only for covering expenses but also to keep consumers to buy it just to play with it. They probably don't manufacture many of these either, so if they have 500 pcs they want them to end up at 500 best / biggest companies with some serious projects. So stop crying about the prices, it's not intended for you.

    Second part, you forget that for Oculus and other similar VR experiences you need - PC. It had been told several times that HoloLens is standalone device. So compare 3000$ for HoloLens to a 350$ for Oculus PLUS 2.000$ for PC that's gonna run the content for Oculus. It's more than just pair of screens and some sensors.

    Again, forget about Oculus, and for the time being forget about owning HoloLens. It's future tech, it will come there, don't worry, once it's in stores it won't be 3.000$. But than again, don't expect to have it in stores in 2016 either, at least by the looks of it.
    Reply