After a long time being out of the consumer hardware game, Nokia is stepping back into the field with a virtual reality camera. The thing is, this camera won't be cheap, so not really for consumers but more for businesses and professionals.
This virtual reality camera was an interesting prototype at Nokia for quite some time until it was unearthed by Ramzi Haidamus, the new president of Nokia's technology unit. He said when he came to check out what to do with the company's consumer hardware business, his eyes went straight to this virtual reality camera.
At the time, the device was just a prototype, and a very ugly prototype at that. Haidamus claims it had eight cameras spread out around the body with wires everywhere. He said it looked like a spider and very ugly in its prototype stage. This is very common for prototype devices before they become consumer friendly.
"It was very ugly," Haidamus said Thursday, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal at the European launch of the camera in London. "All you saw was eight lenses in the air and a bunch of wires. It looked like a spider with eight eyes."
Fast forward a year and a half into the future, and the project is now known as the Nokia OZO. It's a sleek looking sphere with eight lenses inside it, and it looks wonderful from our point of view. The company says this is the first virtual reality camera that is ready to be used right out of the box, so it might find itself a niche market soon.
For those wondering about the price-tag, this thing will cost $60,000 to own, far more than what regular consumers or even YouTubers are capable of spending on a single device. We understand Nokia is aiming to sell or rent the camera to professional filmmakers, but as of now, we do not know how many have come onboard.
When it comes down to a mass market version, the former Finnish giant says it will one day release a cheaper version of the OZO for hobbyists, but we can't say yet when this version will hit store shelves.
Have a closer look at the camera at Nokia's OZO website.