Microsoft HoloLens: Creator Alex Kipman says Microsoft will be patient with AR headset

The creator of augmented reality headset the HoloLens, Alex Kipman, has said Microsoft will launch the device "when the world is ready", so it does not repeat the same mistakes made with the launch of the Kinect motion control sensor.

Speaking to reporters at the TED conference held in Vancouver on 18 February, Kipman said according to Recode: "When I feel the world is ready, then we will allow normal people to buy it. It could be as soon as we say 'yes', and it could be as long as a 'very long time'."

"If a consumer bought it today, they would have 12 things to do with it. And they would say: 'Cool, I bought a $3,000 product that I can do 12 things with, and now it is collecting dust,'" he added, referring to the developer kits set for release later in 2016.

Kipman compared the challenge of launching the HoloLens to that of launching the Kinect for the Xbox 360 in 2010 – which was little more than a short-term success and was effectively killed off when Microsoft reversed its decision to make the Kinect an integral part of the Xbox One.

"It was not a pleasant experience," he said of the Kinect launch. "It was just not ready to go sell 10 million units in 60 days, which is what it did."

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