On 17 October, Microsoft will hold hackathon event in
Russia. From this event there's interesting news which says that Microsoft
seems to have created a competitor to Google Cardboard, the VR headset that can
be assembled with simple materials.
This news is obtained from the hackathon event promotional
page. Here, Microsoft wants to invite developers to participate in developing
virtual reality contents. But rather than lending the HoloLens to participants,
Microsoft chooses to utilize a device called Microsoft VR Kit.
As you can see in the picture above, this headset has the
exact same concept with Goolge Cardboard: It's made from cardboard, and can be
inserted with a smartphone (in this case is the Lumia smartphones), and then
place it in front of the eyes. Hopefully, developers can immediately realize
their VR content ideas on the event.
So far there is no confirmation from Microsoft related to
the existence of Microsoft VR Kit; Possibility Microsoft won't sell it to the
public. However there are some theories that can be drawn. One of them is most
likely Microsoft will bundle this headset together with Lumia 950 smartphone
that will be presented on October 6.
Another theory is the Microsoft VR Kit is only designed to
triggers the developers to develop more VR contents, which then can be used to
promote HoloLens when the device is ready to be marketed later.