HoloLens sales... sounds about right.
Some people are drawing attention to Microsoft's admission that HoloLens sales are only in the thousands and not the hundreds of thousands.
For once, I need to side with a company defending what might sound like weak sales.
Why doesn't this matter?
Well, firstly... Microsoft set expectations (and prices) LONG before sales began. These are NOT consumer devices. Sure, some consumers probably picked a unit up. But, at the prices these things are commanding, and the fact that you can't really even buy one without having stumbled across this positioning and most of the time they were available, they weren't sold through their stores, partners or even easily acquired if you knew where to sign up for one.
For the first year they were available, they were shipped in phases. Come on people... sales of a device like this aren't relevant. They aren't collecting dust on shelves. They are probably meeting, if not exceeding expectations in terms of sales internally.
So, why ship it all? Well, that is also easy. At $3k, it is expensive for consumers, but rather affordable for people who plan to either develop software to sell on these devices, or for companies who plan to use the devices to their own ends. This helps drive SDK efforts and make sure software actually exists before it finally hits consumers.
It is also a huge leap. But the work they do with this can translate into another field; 3D headsets. With a number of partners promising cheap VR headsets this year along with the Creators Update, it makes a lot of sense.
This is not like, say, Apple Watch. A consumer centric device that was produced in mass quantities and is on sale across multiple chains both online and in house where sales are important.
Sure, if no units were sold, it would have hurt. And maybe the device would have been killed off. But that isn't what happened. Despite explicitly advertising that is WASN'T a consumer device, slamming a huge price tag on it, and not selling it though typical channels, they are still moving thousands of units.
For once, I need to side with a company defending what might sound like weak sales.
Why doesn't this matter?
Well, firstly... Microsoft set expectations (and prices) LONG before sales began. These are NOT consumer devices. Sure, some consumers probably picked a unit up. But, at the prices these things are commanding, and the fact that you can't really even buy one without having stumbled across this positioning and most of the time they were available, they weren't sold through their stores, partners or even easily acquired if you knew where to sign up for one.
For the first year they were available, they were shipped in phases. Come on people... sales of a device like this aren't relevant. They aren't collecting dust on shelves. They are probably meeting, if not exceeding expectations in terms of sales internally.
So, why ship it all? Well, that is also easy. At $3k, it is expensive for consumers, but rather affordable for people who plan to either develop software to sell on these devices, or for companies who plan to use the devices to their own ends. This helps drive SDK efforts and make sure software actually exists before it finally hits consumers.
It is also a huge leap. But the work they do with this can translate into another field; 3D headsets. With a number of partners promising cheap VR headsets this year along with the Creators Update, it makes a lot of sense.
This is not like, say, Apple Watch. A consumer centric device that was produced in mass quantities and is on sale across multiple chains both online and in house where sales are important.
Sure, if no units were sold, it would have hurt. And maybe the device would have been killed off. But that isn't what happened. Despite explicitly advertising that is WASN'T a consumer device, slamming a huge price tag on it, and not selling it though typical channels, they are still moving thousands of units.
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