HoloLens Inventor Thinks Phones Are Already Dead

Alan Kipman, inventor of Microsoft's HoloLens augmented reality device, believes the smartphone format is already dead. The future, Kipman told Bloomberg, will involve devices that can offer "mixed reality," such as the HoloLens. This kind of idea was also shared by CEO Satya Nadella:

I'm sure we'll make more phones, but they will not look like phones that are there today.- Nadella

Kipman says people "just haven't realized" that phones are "dead." It's not quite clear what he means. It may be fair to say "smartphones aren't the format of the future," but they're not currently "dead."

According to Gartner, 1.49 billion smartphones shipped last year. Smartphones are still being adopted at a significant rate around the world and they're often the only way people are connected to the internet. Plus, augmented/mixed reality isn't advanced enough to replace the convenience of handsets, at least for right now.

It's convenient for individuals connected to Microsoft to say smartphones are dead, of course. During the last quarter, Microsoft only reported $5 million in revenue from Windows Phone devices.