Microsoft claims HoloLens is ‘doing great’ after reports HoloLens 3 was canceled...
source link: https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/4/22918025/microsoft-hololens-3-canceled-reports-comment-rumors
Go to the source link to view the article. You can view the picture content, updated content and better typesetting reading experience. If the link is broken, please click the button below to view the snapshot at that time.
Microsoft claims HoloLens is ‘doing great’ after reports version 3 was canceled
A number of HoloLens employees have departed recently
By Tom Warren@tomwarren Feb 4, 2022, 1:07pm EST
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70471997/vpavic_190131_3213_0151.0.jpg)
Microsoft’s Alex Kipman with the HoloLens 2. Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Microsoft claims “HoloLens is doing great” after a report earlier this week revealed HoloLens 3 may have been canceled. Business Insider reported on Wednesday that Microsoft has scrapped plans for HoloLens 3 in recent months and that it could be “the end of the road” for the headset. Microsoft has reportedly agreed to partner with Samsung on a new mixed reality device, a move that has apparently “inflamed divisions” that exist in Microsoft’s mixed reality teams.
The software giant has been working on a custom HoloLens headset for the US Army in a contract that could be worth up to $21.88 billion over 10 years. The headset is supposed to use augmented reality and machine learning to enable a “life-like mixed reality training environment,” but the US Army has pushed back the date it plans to field Microsoft’s custom headset. Business Insider reports that the headset is behind schedule and “plagued by quality and performance problems.”
Anonymous Microsoft employees speaking to Business Insider claim there is confusion and uncertainty over the future of HoloLens inside the division that is run by Alex Kipman, technical fellow at Microsoft. “Don’t believe what you read on the internet,” claims Kipman in a reply to a tweet referencing the report. “HoloLens is doing great and if you search said internet they also said we had cancelled HoloLens 2... which last I checked we shipped with success.”
It has now been more than seven years since Microsoft first announced its HoloLens headset, but the company has seen a number of high profile HoloLens employee exits to competitors. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that more than 70 Microsoft employees on the HoloLens team have left the company in the past year, with more than 40 joining Meta.
Meta, formerly Facebook, is aggressively pursuing the dream of a metaverse, and it’s something Microsoft wants to build, too. “We feel very well positioned to be able to catch what I think is essentially the next wave of the internet,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella about the metaverse last month. “I think the next wave of the internet will be a more open world where people can build their own metaverse worlds, whether they’re organizations, game developers, or anyone else.”
Sign up for the newsletter Verge Deals
Subscribe to get the best Verge-approved tech deals of the week.
There are 35 comments.
I would very much love to see a consumer-focused AR headset take off and it would break my heart if the only way to do that would be to buy something from Facebook. We’re rooting for you, Alex! Keep up the good work!
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 1:53 PM
I think they should launch a customer focused headset first – get the kinks out, iterate to make it better before straight going to the Army.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 2:28 PM
As much as some companies and even some individuals talk about AR being the next best thing. AR today is not ready to be the size of regular glasses, plus there is going to be any number of cameras on them as well. Not to mention the really high prices of a Hololens 2 headset, which most people cannot justify purchasing. Since that is the case, and Microsoft’s Hololens 2 only gives you AR with a FOV of 52 degrees, and you are still wearing a headset on your head. Then why not wear a headset that gives you the best of both AR and VR, which is really MR/XR headsets. The Quest 2 gives you both AR and VR. However its AR is only in black and white, but its VR is really excellent and in full color. If the next Quest 3 gives its users a full color AR experience, and VR as well for its increadible low prices. Then the Quest 3 will be really great. AR alone won’t pull in the masses, unless they are the size of regular glasses, and since that is not the case today, then MR/XR headsets are the way to go.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 3:27 PM
Of all the AR/MR prototype headsets shown, the Lynx R-1 has the right form factor. The R-1 won’t be a big seller, but it may become a paradigm for future of MR HMDs. With the Lynx having a price tag under $1000, 90 degrees of FOV, and open peripheral vision. I don’t see a future for Hololens or in its current form.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 12:30 PM
Unfortunately, the tech and price point are not there yet for mainstream customers.
As an example, FB is struggling and losing money on this market.
Going with the gov and iterating in both the tech, platform and overall tech makes ton of sense before making a push on the consumer space.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 4:35 PM
or… use the business model that Elon Musk and many others did. use the rich money that the military has to develop devices and then when the technology is good, you can focus on bringing costs down. Musk was right in focusing on expensive electric cars (too many people have too much money on their hands) and using that money to develop and bring down costs. If he had tried to start with a budget electric, he would’ve gotten killed.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 1:22 AM
I would very much love to see a consumer-focused AR headset take off and it would break my heart if the only way to do that would be to buy something from Facebook
AR is the next computing platform.
It’s not going to be "buy a headset and use it anywhere". The hardware is going to be your gateway to the platform.
At the moment… Apple is going to own this whole thing.
Facebook will essentially end up making an app that runs on Apple’s AR platform. I don’t see Facebook building the platform that everyone else uses.
Maybe Microsoft + Samsung can team up and create an alternative in the same way that Google + Samsung did with Android.
Maybe.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 6:09 PM
For what it’s worth, as far as im aware Microsoft never planned on targeting consumers with HoloLens at all, even their 3D XAML work never got implemented.
Posted on Feb 6, 2022 | 7:39 PM
Yeah I figured If they did cancel something, it’s because they have something else in the wings. You don’t sign a major deal with the government to only kill the project. Doesn’t make sense.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 1:58 PM
Microsoft claims HoloLens is ‘doing great’ after reports version 3 was canceled
They pretty much said the same thing about Zune and Windows Phone.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 2:22 PM
Yeah, I don’t believe them either. There is/was next to no news about next Hololense iteration till this report came in. And then exec came out to patch the leak.
It’s shame though, I was excited to see Hololense eventually coming to consumer space.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 4:38 PM
While it could all be smoke and mirrors, the markets are completely different. That was a very mature and defined market vs this space being completely open and fully undefined.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 4:41 PM
Last time they partnered with Samsung on an HMD, Samsung basically designed a superior version of the PSVR, the Odyssey+. Microsoft still refused to flip the switches to make it work on their new Xbox console, which they advertised as being VR ready. I have no idea what they’re thinking, and apparently neither do they.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 2:25 PM
Hololens is doing great right now especially in education and industry. We are using two of them as demonstrators of diffrent AR solutions aimed at manufacturing employees for training, task tracking, virtual instructions and online assistance.
However, still not sure about its potential as a consumer product.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 2:31 PM
Everything you listed could be done on a MR headset as well. So maybe Microsoft is going to be making a Quest 2 type device instead? That offers both AR and VR in the one headset.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 3:30 PM
There is something very different about the ergonomics of wearing a device like the HoloLens for extended periods of time vs looking through the world through cameras. Yes MR works, but AR gives a natural experience. This may change as they pipe through higher quality cameras.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 4:50 PM
AR is definitely superior but I think the optics are still too far away. MR is a useful stopgap to have in order to release a consumer ready product. I can see Microsoft pivoting towards Windows Mixed Reality devices while slowly iterating on Hololens in the background.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 12:20 PM
No. VR, even the best expansive headset with incredible screens and cameras are not real see through devices that works easily like hololens2.
With HoloLens2 you can train people on their workstation, they see their hand directly and can use their tools. They also keep our natural peripheral vision that they need.
They simply cannot do all that with VR. Even the Magic Leap one is really bad compared to HoloLens2. Microsoft is far beyond competition… For now, of course all this could change.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 2:12 AM
See through optical is better, yes. However that doesn’t mean this Samsung partnership can’t be an attempt to bring a less expensive version to consumers to compete with Apple’s device. Worth noting as well that while Hololens has better peripheral vision, clarity-wise it’s not as good as Magic Leap. The new Magic Leap 2 apparently improves on that even more. A big reason the military isn’t yet taking any HL2 is because of its notorious color banding issues.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 4:14 AM
Everything I read regarding Apple’s upcoming HMD is that it’s clearly targeting enterprise.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 12:45 PM
We are nowhere near camera or display technology that would make VR headset camera passthrough an acceptable substitute for seeing the world with your eyes. AR is supposed to be about adding digital elements to everyday life, which people would like to see properly. AR’s potential is as a ubiquitous HUD and replacement for needing physical screens everywhere, not the kind of gimmicks you’d play with headset passthrough or phone "AR".
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 6:21 PM
Yep. It’s doing great in the same way Tom Brady "hadn’t made his mind up about retiring" when ESPN leaked the news that he was retiring.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 2:57 PM
You know Windows Phone was doing great and they never officially killed it per se.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 3:09 PM
"We feel very well positioned to be able to catch what I think is essentially the next wave of the internet,"
Is it too late to buy Playstation home for twenty bucks and sell it to them for $100 billion as the corporate buzzword du jour future of internet
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 3:37 PM
It’s also apparently the basic idea behind what they’re telling us is the future… I think it’s likely not, and these companies are just trying to distract us from their various privacy issues.
Posted on Feb 6, 2022 | 3:45 AM
Remember XNA/DX death leak? XNA did die, but back then MS also quickly responded that DX is still going strong… and it still hasn’t died a decade after that leak. So, I wouldn’t give leakers benefit of doubt either.
Facts point to Hololens division being hit hard by people leaving.
I find it fairly likely the division is in complete disarray. So, yeah, headset is still being worked on … by a much smaller team, with delivery dates that keep slipping and with tech that still doesn’t work well. Not completely cancelled yet though.
This HL3 cancelled is most likely like Hololens 2 that was supposedly gone and the 3 being brought forward and put in its place. Whether that rumor was true I don’t know and don’t really care either. It doesn’t matter if internal version 3 or 30 gets released, it matters when it gets released and what it does. Unfortunately, neither of these two looks promising at the moment. Not that anyone is doing better though.
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 6:10 PM
Let me guess, classic case of Microsoft being way ahead of the competition and not knowing how to capitalize it?
Posted on Feb 4, 2022 | 8:17 PM
Sorry but I don’t buy this shit MS. Nothing exciting has been shown around the project. I would have hoped at least some integration with gaming or heck even a VR version but MS seems to be barking up the wrong tree with these.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 1:12 AM
You don’t have gaming developments on a €/$3000 device than no individual will buy.
HoloLens 1 was at first a project for homes, but they simply could not bring the cost down enough. But this is why half the demos where games when it came out (the incredible Roboraid & Cie).
Therefore then make version 2 for those who can use it: companies. They sold HoloLens 2 in 1 trimester more than HoloLens 1 over its lifetime.
Between both versions they were silent, as they are now so this silent in itself is not a bad sign.
As now everyone focus on Mr for the future of metaverses to bring hybrid metaverses, it’s logical to see some engineers leaving the ship of the legacy main actor and move to Meta, Google (project Iris) and Apple. Huawei, Lenovo and other Chinese are as well working on thir own MR headset so the war is just starting.
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 2:18 AM
HoloLens 2 problem is not sales, which are excellent, but it’s display problems (quality and red artifacts) which I guess they are working hard to fix as well as extending the field of view.
Price around €/$1200 and consumer market ready MR headsets should be ready in 2027 if I had a guess, in two generations.
Then it will replace our phones… 
Posted on Feb 5, 2022 | 2:24 AM
The fact that his profile pic is an ape makes this claim untrustworthy.
Posted on Feb 6, 2022 | 3:11 PM
See the problem I see here is developers and platform. Apple will win this hands down, followed a couple years later by Google. Its easier to shift over your existing developers to your new platform than courting new ones (especially if it is already built on something that they use already). The tech will eventually get there for everyone. Microsoft started in the enterprise because that is where they are strong…. and they might even succeed, but the consumers versions will fail. Apple will dominate.
Posted on Feb 6, 2022 | 5:27 PM
Was only talking about this the other day!
I remember when Microsoft originally announced this and showed the demo on stage.
We were told it would not be long to the market with a price of around £300.
Working in education IT I thought this was going to be a game changer.
And then………………………nothing!
It all went quite with only a few bits of news here and there.
Missed a massive opportunity to make this extremely popular by putting it in schools first.
Posted on Feb 7, 2022 | 4:21 AM
Recommend
About Joyk
Aggregate valuable and interesting links.
Joyk means Joy of geeK