Microsoft HoloLens: What's Next For Mixed Reality Headset

Microsoft is taking HoloLens on tour to win over developers.

ByABC News
October 9, 2015, 11:50 AM
Microsoft's Joe Belfiore, left, smiles as he tries on a "Hololens" device with colleagues Alex Kipman, right, and Terry Myerson following an event demonstrating new features of Windows 10 at the company's headquarters on Jan. 21, 2015, in Redmond, Wash.
Microsoft's Joe Belfiore, left, smiles as he tries on a "Hololens" device with colleagues Alex Kipman, right, and Terry Myerson following an event demonstrating new features of Windows 10 at the company's headquarters on Jan. 21, 2015, in Redmond, Wash.
Elaine Thompson/AP Photo

— -- Ever since Microsoft's HoloLens was first shown off in January, the mixed reality headset has generated buzz and ideas for how the technology can be used. Now, Microsoft is gearing up for a crucial next step for leveraging the potential of HoloLens by letting developers get their hands on the technology.

Microsoft is taking the headset on a North American tour spanning eleven cities in an effort to entice developers into purchasing one of the $3,000 developer's edition kits which will be available early next year.

Getting enough developers building experiences for the holographic headset is an important next step before Microsoft ultimately releases a consumer version. So far, the software company has showed off a variety of ways the technology can be used, including NASA exploring the surface of Mars, using the glasses to virtually design a new product and a holographic video game in a world you're a part of, among others.

PHOTO: The Microsoft Corp. HoloLens augmented reality headset is demonstrated during a keynote session at the Microsoft Developers Build Conference in San Francisco on April 29, 2015.
The Microsoft Corp. HoloLens augmented reality headset is demonstrated during a keynote session at the Microsoft Developers Build Conference in San Francisco on April 29, 2015.

At Microsoft's Windows 10 devices event on Tuesday, the software company showed off "Project X-Ray," a game that includes wearable holograms and included the player going to battle in a holographic world set inside his living room.

"I just can't wait to see what Windows developers are going to do with holographic computing," Terry Myerson, Microsoft's executive vice president of the Windows and Devices Group said at the event.

Microsoft made it clear the glasses would not rely on a PC connection, phones or any external wires, allowing the user to walk around unencumbered in a mixed-reality space and making them ideal for everything from mixed reality gaming to moving around in a busy workplace.