Microsoft HoloLens Coming Soon As First App Hits Windows Store

Microsoft is gearing up to release the HoloLens wearable computer glasses, and on Monday the first HoloLens-supporting app went live on the Windows Store. "Microsoft IT Showcase" is a free app, available now, that provides easy access to content detailing how IT professionals are using Microsoft products in their work.

For the first app on a new device bringing in a new era of PC interaction, it's quite underwhelming. The company already has shown off how "Minecraft" and other apps will look on the virtual reality goggles, but until now there has been little news on when we might see some HoloLens-specific apps. The HoloLens developer kit is expected in 2016, but "Microsoft IT Showcase" means some first-party apps might gain HoloLens support before then.

Curiously, the Web listing does not show the HoloLens screenshots, suggesting store support may not be fully complete just yet. The fact that it was released with little fanfare, and that it's a relatively uninteresting app compared to some of the early HoloLens apps demonstrated, suggests that the launch may have been unintentional.

The other possibility is that Microsoft intended to launch the first HoloLens app discreetly. The company has been touting the "universal app" system as an integral part of Windows 10. All universal apps will run on HoloLens, and it's possible that Microsoft thought that drawing attention to the first app with explicit HoloLens support would contradict the idea that the system will support every universal app from day one.