Microsoft releases Kinect for Windows hardware, SDK

In a Wednesday announcement, Microsoft said that it has started shipping the promised Kinect for Windows hardware through distribution partners; and that it has also released the Kinect for Windows SDK (v. 0) for developers.

According to reports, the Kinect for Windows hardware currently comes at a suggested retail price of $249, but Microsoft will, later this year, introduce a special $149 academic pricing for the benefit of Qualified Educational Users.

With Microsoft’s distribution partners having commenced the sale of the Kinect for Windows hardware in as many as twelve launch countries, Craig Eisler - General Manager of Kinect for Windows – said that the Kinect was a result of “many years of intense R&D efforts,” which primarily involved substantial research investments as well as “deep partnership” between the company’s research, software, hardware, and manufacturing teams, and the games studios.

Terming the shipping of Kinect for Windows as “another cross-Microsoft effort,” Eisler said that the launch of the “integrated solution” created by the company’s software and hardware teams was possible only with the help of “our support, manufacturing, supply chain, reverse logistics, and account teams.”

Meanwhile, noting that the release of the SDK will allow developers to launch commercial Kinect apps, Eisler said that the SDK and runtime not only provide support for up to four Kinect sensors plugged into the same computer, but also comprise improved skeletal tracking of users and boast the addition of a "near mode" for tracking movement as close as 40 centimeters in front of the Kinect motion sensor.