Microsoft Announces New Mixed Reality Apps for Android and iOS

Ahead of the big HoloLens launch next week, Microsoft is announcing two new AR apps for Dynamics 365 customers. The company is introducing new enterprise-focused AR apps that are supposed to work with products like the HoloLens.

The new Dynamics 365 Remote Assist app for Android devices, for example, allows users to see what someone is seeing on a HoloLens or even an Android device. The idea is that employees can easily see what their co-workers are seeing through devices like the HoloLens, and help them troubleshoot a problem with features like real-time annotations, etc. The app will also feature support for group calling.

“Dynamics 365 Remote Assist for mobile devices (coming to Android in preview) extends the capabilities of Dynamics 365 Remote Assist to Android mobile devices and allows employees to work together from anywhere, empowering technicians to solve problems faster the first time,” Microsoft said.

The company is also launching a new Dynamics 365 Product Visualize app for iOS devices that will allow users to place AR models in the real-world, allowing them to visualize how their products look in real-life environments. That obviously is nothing new, but since the app comes with deep Dynamics 365 integration, it’s going to be pretty helpful if your company relies heavily on Dynamics 365.

Microsoft is introducing a couple of other AI-related features for Dynamics 365 this week. And although these new mixed reality apps are pretty interesting, the fact that they are entirely focused on enterprise customers is kind of disappointing. Even the new HoloLens is likely going to be aimed at enterprise customers, so it is not surprising at all, but Microsoft’s whole enterprise-focused strategy with HoloLens is a little disappointing if you are a consumer.