Read more.The firm has sold approx 35 million Kinect units since 2010.
Read more.The firm has sold approx 35 million Kinect units since 2010.
The market is moving in a slightly different direction at the minute.
"It is noted that Kinect hardware and software technology helped enable Hololens, Windows Hello and other emerging tech from Microsoft."
At least all the money invested lead somewhere. Hololens core is essentially Kinect.
For arguments sake let's say each Kinect had cost each consumer an average of £100 (to give and take people who paid more or less).
That is 35 hundred million pounds worth of hardware that customers bought which was not ever utilized to its fullest, but it's ok because it helped pay to create hololens, which we will expect those same customers to pay for again.
It does nothing for consumer confidence when you are pumping money into R&D before you support the current profit-making project properly, will they do this again with hololens?
Robbery.
I don't think Kinect ever got the recognition it deserved or the proper support to make it a success. Microsoft have done a terrible job as usual of marketing it - as a gimmicky Xbox 'me-too' toy following in the success of Wii when it should have been so much more than that especially considering its entirely viable integration into PCs. Gesture and voice input has a lot of potential to help people interact with digital media - even something simple like opening and closing applications or scrolling and controlling your laptop from across the room with simple finger gestures could have been a 'wow' moment like when Steve Jobs demonstrated pinch to zoom on the first iPhone. Most of the voice assistants now would probably have even better improved ease of use if they also recognised your gestures (privacy concerns aside obviously) and Kinect could do both years ago. Now Kinect dies but the technology lives on like in Windows Hello which is just a severely watered down Kinect and is included in a lot of new laptops. HoloLens shares a lot of technologies with Kinect too. So the technology wasn't bad, it was just terribly executed with no developer support and no evidence of Microsoft trying to push it forward properly.
I feel like if Apple had released 'Kinect' it would have been marketed to the hilt, properly supported and probably would have ended up being a market defining device.
At least its a good webcam and microphone for windows when used with the SDK kit drivers that are available
"That is 35 hundred million pounds worth of hardware that customers bought which was not ever utilized to its fullest"
I hate to think how much all the iphones that have ever been purchased by peer pressured kids, aspiring non-techy adults and me-too consumers to check emails and post inane photos to facebook etc are all worth, 'which have not ever (been) utilised to (their) fullest'.
Maybe the kinects weren't used to their fullest but no-one put a gun to the heads of those who bought them.
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