With its futuristic HoloLens headset, Microsoft Corp. is leading the race to the metaverse, but because of the technology's limits and management's tolerance, its seven-year foray into augmented reality has failed
The company has been delaying the release of a new version and has had difficulty meeting the technological demands of its biggest customer, the US Army
Earlier difficulties with equipment development contributed to Microsoft's augmented reality hardware problems
Microsoft Corp. has taken the lead in the race to the metaverse with its futuristic HoloLens headset. After seven years, its major foray into augmented reality—which combines virtual graphics with views of the actual world—has run afoul of the technology's limitations and the firm management's tolerance. The gadget, a ring-shaped computer worn like a crown and shows digital information on goggles connected, hasn't gained much popularity. Microsoft put off releasing a new version and has had trouble satisfying the technological demands of its biggest customer, the US Army.
According to former employees and LinkedIn profiles, the HoloLens team has lost more than 100 employees in the last two years, 2021 and 2020, including its longtime boss. To cut costs and the size of its personnel as revenue growth slows, Microsoft has reorganized the more than 1,000-person team that developed the headsets and cut its budget.
Current and former employees who worked for years attempting to make the headsets a success claimed that building the headsets and the software to run them turned out to be more difficult than anyone imagined. Additionally, the company's approach to the product was ambiguous and inconsistent. Microsoft stated that it still has ambitious aspirations to expand on what HoloLens has already accomplished.
Microsoft's augmented reality hardware troubles come after earlier difficulties with equipment development. Microsoft has consistently led the pack to devices like smartphones, tablets, and portable media players throughout the years, only to lose those sizable new markets to Apple and competitors. Nevertheless, it has had much recent success across various industries, including cloud computing and video games. The global market value of augmented reality has increased significantly this year, 2022, compared to the previous years, according to GlobalData.
The company reported on October 25, 2022, that the prior quarter's decrease in personal computer sales reduced demand for its Windows software, resulting in a decline in profit and a slowdown in sales growth. Digital content, such as 3-D graphics or visual instructions, are superimposed on a user's view of the real world in augmented reality, also known as augmented reality. Some in the technology sector believe it offers a larger business possibility than virtual reality, which fully immerses users in a virtual world, such as a videogame. Both belong to the larger metaverse. In its efforts to concentrate on the metaverse, Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, has depended mostly on virtual reality up until now. It sells Quest headsets that are VR-enabled and enable users to visit its virtual worlds.
However, Meta and other significant tech companies invest billions of dollars in augmented reality. In the upcoming years, it is anticipated that Apple Inc., Google, and Meta will introduce their augmented reality headsets. Microsoft said earlier this month in Oct 2022, its software will be available on Meta's Quest headsets. The decision was viewed as a wager by some in the sector that Meta would have more success producing hardware for the metaverse.
When Microsoft's videogames division, which sells the well-known Xbox console, began thinking about what a future gaming system would look like, HoloLens was born as an experimental project. One group had an idea for a product that would eventually replace all other screens by using augmented reality glasses, dubbed "Screen Zero."
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