As Microsoft has just kicked off its Mixed Reality Dev Days in Redmond ahead of next week’s Build 2019 conference, the company has just announced an important update for members of its Mixed Reality Developer Program. A new HoloLens 2 Development Edition is now available through the program, bundling together the new mixed reality headset with tools to help developers get started with this new wave of computing.
Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 headset has been available for pre-order since its official reveal at Mobile World Congress in February, with pre-orders being collected in just a few markets. However, it has yet to be cleared by the FCC and it still has no shipping date. Companies can currently choose to buy the headset only for $3,500, or get it through a bundle offer including the Dynamics 365 Remote Assist app starting at $125/month per user.
The HoloLens 2 Development Edition will offer the same headset priced at $3,500 (or as low as $99/month), but in a bundle that will include $500.00 in Azure credits as well as 3-month free trials of Unity Pro and the Unity PiXYZ Plugin for CAD data. Unity Pro is currently one of the most popular real-time 3D development platforms, but Microsoft announced that HoloLens 2 will also get support for Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4 by the end of the month.
Again, this new HoloLens 2 Development Edition will only be available through Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Developer Program, which recently crossed more than 20,000 developers. We still don’t have a firm shipping date, but mixed reality developers can get updates by signing up for the Mixed Reality Developer program on this page.
