Last Wednesday during the Windows 10 event, Microsoft announced their new augmented-reality headset and platform, HoloLens. Within minutes, ideas for new brand experiences, in depth conversations about what HoloLens means to our industry, and excited chants began to echo the halls of Vectorform offices across the globe. Since the announcement, we have received numerous calls and emails inquiring about our thoughts on this amazing new platform…so here are 10 reasons why our team is excited about HoloLens and what it means for Vectorform and the industry as a whole.

Not a game changer, it’s an entirely new game.

“As a child, cartoons of people interacting with holograms generated from helmets, glasses, or wristbands, fueled my play and imagination. As an adult watching the HoloLens unveiling, something primal welled up from my childhood…  it was real.  As professionals in an ever-changing technology landscape, Vectorform is uniquely tooled to engineer life changing and business changing experiences in this new expression of Natural User Experience. With Vectorform’s breadth of knowledge gained from years of thinking and rethinking how humans engage the world around them, to developing and engineering aides to those engagements, this technology falls neatly onto the shelves of our toolbox. HoloLens is not a game changer, it is an entirely new game, it is a good thing Vectorform has all-star players.”

Vito DiMercurio, Director of Execution

Connecting information & functionality in the NUE.

“For the last two years, Vectorform has been moving our clients towards contextual computing; delivering experiences within the user’s natural environment. For example, our recent Google Glass experience for the introduction of the BMW i8.

Project HoloLens allows us to further connect information and functionality in the natural user environment (NUE) to fundamentally transform how users experience the world around them. Vectorform’s labs are focused on how we can apply Project HoloLens to solve real world problems and transform industries.”

Ed Wrenbeck, CTO

Changes the paradigm by bringing 3D objects mapped to real 3D space.

“With HoloLens, Microsoft may have just killed VR.  While certain experiences do lend themselves well to completely removing yourself from the physical world, in many cases, an augmented approach serves to create a more seamless and inviting experience by bridging your physical and digital worlds together.  The problem with augmented-reality, however, is that current technology has been limited to floating a 2D plane of information into 3D space, forcing you to mentally switch focus from the physical world to your augmented world.  HoloLens changes this paradigm by bringing real 3D objects mapped to real 3D space, making the digital information flow and interact like any other physical object in your environment, reducing or eliminating the nauseating effects often found within a virtual-reality.”

Kevin Foreman, Director of Product Vision

New playground to create valuable user experiences.

“The disappearance of the button, voice, gesture recognition and holographic visualization are core drivers for the evolution of human machine interaction.

With the combination of all these technologies HoloLens offers a unique, new playground to create valuable user experiences and never before seen ecosystems for various use cases. With the lessons learned we gathered from the design and development of the BMW i8 application for Google Glass, we look forward to take the next step for the development  of the next generation augmented reality experience.”

Alissia Iljaitsch, Digital Innovation Strategist, Executive Director EMEA

Blending the digital and physical world – creating fun and meaningful experiences.

“Microsoft surprised the audience with the introduction of HoloLens during their update about Windows 10. It’s another great example of a major OEM in the area of wearables and wearable computing that will impact everyone’s lives in one way or another, it is inevitable. May it be headsets for gaming with Oculus Rift (Facebook) andProject Morpheus (Sony) or Lifestyle with Google Glass (Google) or the wave of smart watches, fitness bands etc., we are entering fast and furious the area of internet of things. Blending the digital and the physical world and creating fun and meaningful experiences that add value to users lives has been Vectorform’s mission ever since the very beginning in 1999.”

Clemens Conrad, User Experience & Strategy Director, CEO- Vectorform Germany

Raises the bar for technology & customer experience expectations in B2C categories.

“Project HoloLens further establishes the space we move, live and occupy as the future standard interface for computing.  This new benchmark continues to raise the bar for technology and customer experience expectations in the business to consumer categories in particular.  One of the most pivotal decisions a company will make in 2015 is who they partner with in emerging technology.  Access to hardware is crucial to early ideation and competitive advantage.  After 15 years of inventing digital products and experiences for Fortune 500 companies, Vectorform has established itself as one of the  global gladiators in the arena of contextual computing.”

Daphne Zargar, Chief Strategist

Brings together diverse opportunities with a single device.

“Outside of the gaming experience HoloLens opens a long list of business cases. Over the years clients have come to Vectorform interested in placing holographic objects in the hands of their employees, creating non accessible environments through VR and augmenting the physical space via hands free operations with devices like Google Glass. HoloLens brings together these diverse opportunities for training, learning and testing scenarios into a single device that are traditionally limited as individual use cases.”

Aaryn Anderson, Executive Director, New York

Importance of preparing organizations to effectively adopt future applications and experiences.

“Products like HoloLens underline today’s unprecedented pace of change in the technologic landscape and the importance of Vectorform’s offering in preparing organizations to effectively adopt, explore, and define clear and meaningful applications for these future modes of user experience.”

Trevor Anulewicz, Executive Director, Creative and Content Strategy

An experience which spans TV, tablet, phone, and now holograms – all built on a Universal codebase.  

“HoloLens is exciting.  What is more exciting – an experience which spans TV, tablet, phone, and now holograms – all built on a Universal codebase.  Vectorform has delivered multiple Windows 8.1 Universal apps for phone and tablet.  With the launch of Windows 10, and the integration of Xbox and HoloLens, I am most excited to see our experiences extend across the full spectrum of consumer devices – pushing the boundaries of personal computing.”

Woody Floyd, Executive Director, Seattle

New job opportunities – Come join our team.

“HoloLens adds to our growing repertoire of Next Gen Technology that you get to work on.  As early pioneers on other Microsoft technology like Surface V1, V2, Kinect and Windows Phone, as well as Google Glass and Android Wear,  Vectorform always strives to be first in line for exploring new platforms to create iconic experiences on.  Come join our team, and you will get your hands on HoloLens and other technology that makes every day working at Vectorform as unique.”

Brian DeLeon, Human Resource Director