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> HoloLens Developer Edition will be available for $3000. Wow. I'm a 23 year old Software Engineer living in the Bay Area and making six figures. I have plenty

by therein 11y ago

> HoloLens Developer Edition will be available for $3000. Wow. I'm a 23 year old Software Engineer living in the Bay Area and making six figures. I have plenty of disposable income yet I still find this expensive. If they aren't targeting me, who are they targeting? I don't think a senior executive at an Investment Banking firm will develop apps for their prototype in his free time.

yxlx 11y ago
Probably they are targeting companies.
Jonnerz 11y ago
Check you out! They must be targeting businesses? It is a Developer Edition after all.
supercoder 11y ago
Agencies, game companies etc. The price point is designed to stop people like yourself grabbing it thinking it's going to be a full experience day 1. But it's cheap enough where anyone who'll be in the position to develop anything of quality to grab it without thinking twice.
- eitally 11y ago
  This is still a bad method of distribution. It would make a lot more sense to make the hardware free but require an application process to purchase them (along the lines of how Google is managing distribution of the Glass v2.0... which likely almost no one actually knows much about).
- monk_e_boy 11y ago
  This. Games companies who are spending $100K a year for a single developer isn't going to be worried about $3K for a holo lens.
swalsh 11y ago
I think you're the target market as a software engineer, not as a young dude with disposable income. $3000 as a business expense is small, it's the opportunity to build an app for a platform early. If it becomes something larger, then it was a great investment. Of course like all new bets, its risky. Anyone who bought into google glass early sunk with the ship.
computator 11y ago
It's completely standard for some companies to make their development kits ridiculously expensive (compared to actual cost) or put up other insane obstacles for people that want to build something that might create a ton of demand for their product. A long time ago I was interested in applying Echelon LonWorks devices for a completely different market than they serve. But their development kit cost tens of thousands of dollars[1] for a $100 worth of parts and their development software. So screw that. To take another example, Broadcom is simply impossible to talk to directly if you're after something as simple as the documentation and a library to access the API on one of their chips. You have to speak to idiot manufacturer's reps, who'll pass on your inquiry to Broadcom if they deem you a worthy customer. The only language a manufacturer's rep understands is the dollar value of the order you plan to make within 3 months for which they'll get a cut. They don't give a damn about wild new ideas or applications you might have if it doesn't translate into immediate large-volume orders for them. The stated reason for all this BS is that the companies want really serious customers because of the demands and questions imposed by the developers. If that's the really the case, they should have 2 pricing tiers: cheap but no support, and expensive with access to support. But I don't think it's the case; I think it's just the usual big company delusion that they should speak only to important customers and all deals must be big deals. [1] Their kits seem to be "only" $2-3K now. http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/echelon-corporation/10020R-40-27/1499-1003-ND/4747827 http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/echelon-corporation...
pc86 11y ago
> If they aren't targeting me, who are they targeting? Why would the target market for a augmented reality device be "young college grad with a lot of money"? I think the fact that this has gaming applications is tangential to what it actually is - a business productivity tool with a core feature set around product design and collaboration.
fsloth 11y ago
"If they aren't targeting me, who are they targeting?" Providing professionals a task specific augmented reality HUD.
runholm 11y ago
It's targeted at companies that invest in development kits with a goal of making serious money in the AR market. Microsoft does not intend this to be a product for use by early adopters.

by therein 11y ago

yxlx 11y ago

Probably they are targeting companies.

Jonnerz 11y ago

Check you out! They must be targeting businesses? It is a Developer Edition after all.

supercoder 11y ago

Agencies, game companies etc. The price point is designed to stop people like yourself grabbing it thinking it's going to be a full experience day 1. But it's cheap enough where anyone who'll be in the position to develop anything of quality to grab it without thinking twice.

eitally 11y ago
This is still a bad method of distribution. It would make a lot more sense to make the hardware free but require an application process to purchase them (along the lines of how Google is managing distribution of the Glass v2.0... which likely almost no one actually knows much about).
monk_e_boy 11y ago
This. Games companies who are spending $100K a year for a single developer isn't going to be worried about $3K for a holo lens.

swalsh 11y ago

I think you're the target market as a software engineer, not as a young dude with disposable income. $3000 as a business expense is small, it's the opportunity to build an app for a platform early. If it becomes something larger, then it was a great investment. Of course like all new bets, its risky. Anyone who bought into google glass early sunk with the ship.

computator 11y ago

It's completely standard for some companies to make their development kits ridiculously expensive (compared to actual cost) or put up other insane obstacles for people that want to build something that might create a ton of demand for their product. A long time ago I was interested in applying Echelon LonWorks devices for a completely different market than they serve. But their development kit cost tens of thousands of dollars[1] for a $100 worth of parts and their development software. So screw that. To take another example, Broadcom is simply impossible to talk to directly if you're after something as simple as the documentation and a library to access the API on one of their chips. You have to speak to idiot manufacturer's reps, who'll pass on your inquiry to Broadcom if they deem you a worthy customer. The only language a manufacturer's rep understands is the dollar value of the order you plan to make within 3 months for which they'll get a cut. They don't give a damn about wild new ideas or applications you might have if it doesn't translate into immediate large-volume orders for them. The stated reason for all this BS is that the companies want really serious customers because of the demands and questions imposed by the developers. If that's the really the case, they should have 2 pricing tiers: cheap but no support, and expensive with access to support. But I don't think it's the case; I think it's just the usual big company delusion that they should speak only to important customers and all deals must be big deals. [1] Their kits seem to be "only" $2-3K now. http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/echelon-corporation/10020R-40-27/1499-1003-ND/4747827 http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/echelon-corporation...

pc86 11y ago

> If they aren't targeting me, who are they targeting? Why would the target market for a augmented reality device be "young college grad with a lot of money"? I think the fact that this has gaming applications is tangential to what it actually is - a business productivity tool with a core feature set around product design and collaboration.

fsloth 11y ago

"If they aren't targeting me, who are they targeting?" Providing professionals a task specific augmented reality HUD.

runholm 11y ago

It's targeted at companies that invest in development kits with a goal of making serious money in the AR market. Microsoft does not intend this to be a product for use by early adopters.