Today Microsoft previewed its augmented reality goggles, HoloLens. A prototype will be released later this year for testing, and it has plenty of potential uses for travel companies.
HoloLens claims to offer high-definition holograms with the spatial illusion of being integrated with your physical places, spaces, and things.
All about the interface The virtual reality eyewear is similar to Oculus Rift and Google Glass. While Google's eyewear has a heads-up display of static information in a static location, Oculus Rift - like HoloLens - creates the illusion of 3D depth.
Unlike Rift, Microsoft's HoloLens is an all-in-one unit, without the eyewear and the computer being separate. Market research firm Forrester predicts that 3.6 million people will likely buy HoloLens products by the end of 2016.
Microsoft isn't saying what HoloLens will cost and when it will be for sale, but it is promoting a video for what it calls "the most advanced holographic computer the world has ever seen."
Microsoft's promotional videos specifically show users plotting a vacation to Hawaii and San Francisco, using holograms of the destination, such as to fly over the Golden Gate Bridge, in one example.
More importantly, the videos show the ability of wearable technology to surpass the analog experience of booking travel via one of today's two-dimensional screens.
HoloLens offers a fundamentally different user experience that's based on touch, gesture, and voice.
There are other competitors out there, of course. Oculus Rift is still innovating. And Google has backed Magic Leap, a startup working on similar, rival eyewear.
All of this innovation means augmented reality wearable could be as significant to travel tech companies someday as the mobile device revolution has been.
