SEATTLE — Microsoft’s HoloLens is getting a wider distribution, with software developer-focused versions of the augmented-reality headset soon to be available outside of North America.
The untethered headsets, formerly available for shipping to addresses in the U.S. and Canada, will start shipping in November to customers in the U.K., France, Germany, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
The headsets, whose lenses display images into the environment around the wearer, are essentially head-mounted personal computers, controlled by hand gestures and voice. Microsoft started selling the devices to software developers in April in the hope of creating enough useful applications to make HoloLens a viable workplace tool.
Early pilots include German industrial conglomerate ThyssenKrupp’s using the headsets to help elevator engineers map out repair projects. Case Western Reserve University has tested the devices in teaching medical students.
