Hololens, the Must-Have Accessory for the Frequent Flyer

While Hololens has been touted for its ability to project 3D holograms enabling new ways to teach, learn and play, it’s biggest success and penetration may come from a much more mundane use but one that will make it the must-have device for road warriors.

And with the combination of useful functionality and high-end appeal, Hololens is poised to be the status symbol of choice for frequent business travelers, and an accessory that finally solves the laptop/tablet viewing privacy issue.

For years, Bose Noise Cancelling Headsets defined the frequent business traveler.  Not only were they beautifully functional, isolating the wearer from the noise around them, they let it be known to all that saw them that the wearer had the money, and traveled frequently enough, to treat themselves to this luxury.  In a word, they screamed “I’m a technophile, my audio privacy is important and I deserve these”.

By simply overlaying a laptop or tablet screen in front of the wearer, Hololens will enable visual privacy and solves that pesky problem of  your seat-mate, or the person sitting or standing behind you, from reading the email, document or presentation you are working on, the book you are reading, or the movie you are watching.  And while wearing Hololens in general public settings may never become socially acceptable, or even functionally practical, targeted public settings such as airplanes, trains or commuter buses will be perfectly acceptable places to wear them for people seeking viewing privacy without being totally blinded to the environment around them.

When first released, Hololens will be an expensive accessory,  just as the Noise Canceling Headset, but those created a great deal of lust and desire helping to drive huge sales numbers for Bose.  This same combination of valuable functionality and conspicuous extravagance could drive huge sales and awareness for Microsoft.

While spending $1,000+ for little Suzie to play Minecraft might be a non-starter, enabling Mom to get work done in private, while showing off a little bit to the other travelers in Business Class, will be money well spent to a whole bunch of people.  As Bose, as well as the kids in Cupertino have proven, starting high priced and exclusive, then driving down to the broader market dying to be cool, is not a bad way to drive a category.