Microsoft has announced to discontinue the Kinect, ending the manufacturing of the depth-sensing camera and microphone accessory. Kinect was initially launched with the Xbox 360 in 2010. It was Microsoft’s fastest selling consumer device with 35 million units being sold since the launch.
According to the Alex Kipman, Creator of Kinect, Microsoft will no longer manufacture the Kinect but will continue to support its customers on Xbox One.
You Might Also Like
Over a consumer privacy, Alex Kipman said to an alluding to industry-wide concern “Trust is something you earn in drops and lose in buckets, I’d say Kinect started the process in 2010 in having to earn drops of trust. Any number of [bad] events in the world, each one, you lose a bucket.”
Further, with the drop in sales of Kinect, Microsoft even tried to bring it back with the release of Xbox One in the market, but the prices comparing to the features of the device was not as expected by the company.
“When we introduced Xbox One, we designed it to have the best experience with the Kinect. That was our goal with the Xbox One launch,” says Lapsen. “And like all product launches, you monitor that over time, you learn and adjust.”
However, with the losing market, Microsoft used the research and technology to design a pair of mixed reality smart glasses know as the HoloLens. The new lens is currently used in laptops with the Windows Helo camera for recognising a person’s face.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has recently announced that it will no longer focus on its Windows Mobile department. Further, the company will no longer launch new mobile phones or work on any new project related to it. However, for existing Windows Mobile user, Microsoft will continue to support the platform and will continue to provide bug fixes and security updates for the system.