My Constellation Research Colleague Alan Lepofsky and me recorded a video earlier, take a look:
No time to read, here are my key takeaways and views in two slides:
MyPOV
It's the first time Microsoft has completely built and designed a enterprise platform, contrary before where it partnered, provided know how etc. And probably such a radical 'wearable' - I like to call it 'headable' requires close ownership. And all the tools are there to build Hololens apps, as Microsoft was able to show developers present at the Build conference.
On the concern side it looks like Microsoft isn't fully sure what can be done with it. At points our interactions were like that of an adventure racer who made it to stage two and now needs to figure out what to do in stage two. Fair enough, as it was far from clear if Microsoft could pull this off 15 months ago. The device was fidgy, needed a portable 'life support unit' and was tough to use. 12 months made a big difference, it can now be used as a platform.
On the positive side Microsoft has garnered large interest from enterprises. Now it comes back to get the business case right and get developers going on building the applications for the platform. There is more game development in these applications than traditional enterprise software development so it will be interesting to watch in the coming quarters where the protypical Hololens developer will come from.
But for now definitively a platform that is relevant for the enterprise space, High end productivity situations, education, engineering come to mind first. We will be watching.
