I know what to say Microsoft is a company that is primarily ahead of its time when it comes to designing new types of devices. It might get me a nice quilt of sticks, but reading this article on GeekWire really got me thinking. And while there are certain nuances that need to be included to make the premise more accurate, the truth is that this is an approach that stands on its own. So I invite you to think about the data and come to your own conclusion, which I hope you will share in the comments.

The reasoning comes from last Monday’s presentation of the Apple Vision Pro, Apple’s revolutionary device reframes the audience approach with mixed augmented realityand that if it weren’t for its very high price (although I understand the basic logic of its choice, since Apple is proposing it as an alternative to buying a next-generation Mac, an iPad, a high-definition screen and a huge TV), it could become the paradigm shift that Tim Cook talked about , when he took the stage.

When the announcement came, we were all thinking about Meta, its headset division, and Metaverse, which was bolstered by Mark Zuckerberg’s remarks at an employee meeting later in the week. We should not forget that now Microsoft has been present in this market for years with its HoloLens, currently version 2, which starts at $3,500 in the United States (€3,849 in Spain). Yes, they are the same price, although Microsoft’s browser is specifically aimed at the professional sector, while Apple’s is also aimed at the end user. Another important difference between Apple Vision Pro and Microsoft HoloLens is that the Cupertino viewer will arrive in 2024, while the Redmond one has been on the market since 2016.

Credit: pocket now

Apple, and I’ve said this on previous occasions, is not usually the first engineer to design a new type of device. Instead, it analyzes the existing offer and “spins it up” to create its own version, generally improved and additionally adapted to its ecosystem. Apple didn’t invent the PC (although it was a predecessor in the AiO format), it didn’t invent the laptop (although it was ahead of the rest of the ultralight market with the MacBook Air), it didn’t invent the Mp3 player (but it completely redefined the concept with the iPod), it didn’t invent the smartphone (but the iPhone is the reference market). .. I guess the story tells itself, doesn’t it?

I said at the beginning that Microsoft is the frontrunner, and yet I’ve only talked about HoloLens and Apple Vision Pro so far, so you’re probably wondering if I’m relying solely on that to make that statement. The answer is no.

Tim Cook said at the Apple Vision Pro presentation:The iPhone introduced us to mobile computing«, but the truth is that the first iPhone was introduced in January 2007, i.e. almost a decade after Microsoft developed Windows CE and defined the PocketPC standard. And yes, I know that some will tell me that Palm was already there, and also that others will remind me that Apple launched its first Newton way back in 1992. Both are true, but we must not forget that although Palm, Newton and Microsoft competed for the same user profile, they did so with very different approaches, Palm and Apple with the PDA and Microsoft with the PocketPC.

Although its lifespan was short, a few years PocketPC wanted to be a pocket-sized alternative for many common PC activities. In my case, I bought a Compaq iPaq H3800 series back then, which at the time was like carrying a computer in your pocket. At the time, it competed with the aforementioned PDAs and also with phones such as the Nokia Communicator series or the Ericsson R380. However, the smartphone boom killed the PocketPC, as did basic digital cameras and GPS navigation… but that’s another story.

On the other hand, there is a general opinion that we owe the tablet format to Apple. It is true, in honor of the truth, that in the very distant 1987, Apple showed a concept called Knowledge Navigator, which, with some differences, advanced the current tablet format. However, we have not seen anything like it until Microsoft defined the Tablet PC standard in 2001, which debuted that same year with the HP Compaq Tablet, a portable computer whose keyboard could be detached as well as rotated to be placed on the back of the device. Subsequently, other manufacturers joined this market. Out of all the offerings, I fell madly in love with the IBM (later Lenovo) ThingPad.

The Tablet PC format did not quite catch on in the market, mainly because its high price (we’re talking about the days when a laptop was always more expensive than a desktop), along with the fact that even though several models were introduced, the range was never very wide. However, this standard defined by Microsoft was a posteriori decisive for the arrival of both tablets and 2-in-1 devices.

I know it Microsoft has on many occasions fed off the previous work of other technologies, but it is no less true that he was the first of the great technologies to bet on truly innovative concepts, some of which have left a huge mark on the devices we use today. Perhaps if there is one thing that can be developed, yes, it is that it has never been able to sell its designs as well as Apple… although we can find similarities in this regard as well. I close this article with a comparison of Microsoft Hololens presentations, in 2015, and Apple Vision Pro, this week:

“A few years ago we started wondering… Could Windows make your digital life more powerful by connecting it to your real life? … Could we bring your digital content right into your world, right into your life? The HPU (Holographic Processing Unit) gives us the ability to understand where you are looking, to understand your gestures, to understand your voice.”, Alex Kipman, Microsoft, 2015.

“Vision Pro is a new kind of computer that augments reality by seamlessly blending the real world with the digital world… You can see, hear and interact with digital content as if it were in your physical space. And you control Vision Pro using the most natural and intuitive tools: your eyes, hands and voice.”, Tim Cook, Apple, 2023.