Tuesday night’s shakeup at Microsoft’s HoloLens team, sparked by the departure of HoloLens co-creator Alex Kipman, likely ranks as the biggest blow to Microsoft’s efforts in AR hardware and related platforms and software since work on HoloLens started in earnest around 2010. In short, it could seriously disrupt any plans for enterprise, military or consumer projects moving forward.
Given that the reorg will split up mixed reality hardware and software, merging each with existing Microsoft teams, and between the doubts gathered around $22 billion IVAS contract and the numerous defections to rivals like Meta Platforms, this could be the coffin’s last nail for certain initiatives.
