Nadella: Microsoft HoloLens v1 to Arrive Within Next Year

Getting excited for Microsoft's HoloLens virtual reality headset? Getting skeptical? We can see both sides. On the one hand, Microsoft's HoloLens demonstrations so far are fairly captivating—true augmented reality that you can interact with as easily as using a hand gesture to move a wall picture. On the other hand, Microsoft's demonstrations have been more about what HoloLens might be, not what it actually will be once a HoloLens headset actually comes out.

Either way, you won't have that much longer to wait until you can get your hands on a HoloLens headset and see for yourself—maybe. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told the BBC that Microsoft expects to have the first version of the HoloLens out "within the next year."

Don't get too excited, though, as that will be a developer version of the virtual reality headset. We have no idea what it might cost, or even the process by which one might be able to get one. There's nothing to say that Microsoft might go the Oculus route and open up pre-orders for anyone interested, or whether Microsoft will just work with developers exclusively and give some access to the HoloLens at that time.

"We will have developer versions of it first, and then it'll be more commercial uses cases, and it'll evolve," Nadella said. "This is a five-year journey, but we're looking forward to getting a v1 out, which is more around developers and enterprises. It's in the Windows 10 timeframe, which means that it is within the next year."

You'll note that Nadella doesn't mention gaming, even though one of the more obvious use cases for the HoloLens—demonstrated by Microsoft itself at this year's E3—is augmented reality gaming. That's not to say that Microsoft won't have gaming in mind as it continues to work on the HoloLens. However, that won't be the device's primary focus. Or, at least, it's not likely to be its initial focus.

"In general Microsoft's approach will be always this dual-use focus, or this multi-focus. What we can uniquely do is bridge consumer to enterprise. That's in our DNA. That's why it's even in our mission statement of empowering people and organizations. I want every technology of ours to seek that out. In the HoloLens case, when I look at the interest, it's amazing how many are in hospitals, healthcare, retail. That's where I'm seeing the interest and we'll definitely go after it," Nadella said in a July interview with ZDNet.

For more, see PCMag's Hands On With Microsoft's HoloLens.