According to the video interview with BBC, Microsoft’s HoloLens will be shipped to developers sometime during 2016. After that, it will be released for business users, before it becomes a consumer device. Even after that period it’s likely that only businesses and enterprise customers will be the first to have access to it. But there is good news for developers as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said a HoloLens developer release will happen in about a year. Apart from seeing the need to improve the headset’s look and feel, Microsoft is also aware of the required software to make its augmented reality headset a successful venture.

The company has offered $500,000 in research grants to encourage researchers to put together and develop use-cases for the HoloLens, although the grants are only available for US-based individuals and organisations.

Microsoft first announced HoloLens back in January alongside the new Windows Holographic computing platform.

He also said that HoloLens itself has been “a five year journey” journey for the company, and hinted at future generations of the headset within the next few years. “We’re looking forward to getting the V1 out, which is more around developers and enterprises in the Windows 10 time frame”, he added. However, the company seems to be pushing more its enterprise value instead of turning it into a major gaming product for consumers.

Now we have more of an idea of when that moment could arrive.