Microsoft on Thursday launched what it is calling the HoloLens Experience Showcase at its flagship retail store in New York City.
First-hand accounts and online videos only go so far in explaining or conveying just how immersive an augmented reality experience like HoloLens really is. As the idiom says, seeing is believing and with the new experience, that's exactly what Microsoft wants - to let people try out HoloLens for themselves.
The catch (there's always a catch, no?) is that the experience is currently only open to developers.
Microsoft invited several journalists to tour the experience earlier this week and the general consensus is that it's pretty awesome. The Verge described the setup as a giant trade show booth presented like a tour. Following a brief introduction in a conference room, the tour takes visitors through three different rooms, each with a unique demo to try.
If you recall, Microsoft announced a developer edition of HoloLens a couple of months ago. I suspect the company will use the experience in part to try and get additional devs to fork over $3,000 for the kit when it ships early next year. That's a lot of money for sure but for developers looking to get in on the ground floor of a cutting-edge technology, it'll likely be seen as a small investment.
