Microsoft’s reveals low-priced Windows 10-based cardboard VR headset

The “successful” developers at the hackathon, or those who produce viable apps during the time, will receive a VR kit from Microsoft.

Microsoft is prepping to release its own Windows 10-based take on a low-priced VR device, following in the footsteps of Google Cardboard.

The kit works the same way Google Cardboard works – it’s a generic headset with a slot for the Lumia phone.

Nobody is quite sure which headset and what games and experiences will truly catch on in the world of VR, but there’s one near unanimous opinion: It’ll be the affordable one. The DIY device has proved to be an effective means of getting VR into the hands of just about anyone, made from simple materials and relying on the owner’s own smartphone as a display, processor and head-tracker. As a result, Windows Phone devices haven’t offered the same quality and quantity of apps to consumers as their Google- and Apple-powered rivals.

That hackathon will use the Microsoft VR Kit and will look like the purple clad cardboard box.

That’s about to change however, as the company is now looking to stuff some fingers into the VR pie.

In spite of the rush to develop and commercialize VR, some at the technology’s cutting edge say we shouldn’t raise our expectations too high.

Reports coming out of Microsoft Russian Federation claim that a new VR kit strikingly similar to the Google Cardboard is being provided to developers at a hackathon later this month and it apparently isn’t related to the HoloLens in any way. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg issues a warning about VR, saying that it would grow slowly.

It’s noteworthy that Microsoft, in promoting the Moscow hackathon, gave as much weight to educational and enterprise apps as to games: Back in the real world of VR contraptions Microsoft is developing, the enterprise could be a big market for Hololens, with potential applications in design, training and conferencing.