Microsoft HoloLens, known under development as Project Baraboo, is a pair of mixed reality smartglasses developed and manufactured by Microsoft. HoloLens was one of the first computers running the Windows Mixed Reality platform under the Windows 10 operating system. The HoloLens can trace its lineage to Kinect, an add-on for Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console that was introduced in 2010.
The pre-production version of HoloLens, the Development Edition, shipped on March 30, 2016, and is targeted to developers in the United States and Canada for a list price of $3000. Samsung and Asus have extended an offer to Microsoft to help produce their own mixed-reality products, in collaboration with Microsoft, based around the concept and hardware on HoloLens. On October 12, 2016, Microsoft announced global expansion of HoloLens and publicized that HoloLens would be available for preorder in Australia, Ireland, France, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. There is also a Commercial Suite (similar to a pro edition of Windows), with enterprise features, such as bitlocker security. As of May 2017, The Suite sells for $5,000.[10] Microsoft has decided to rent the Hololens without clients making the full investment. Microsoft partner with a company called Abcomrents to give the service of Hololens rental.
HoloLens 2 was announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain on February 24, 2019, and is available on preorder at $3500.