Microsoft registered the "HoloPet" trademark a few days ago, which means I may soon be able to circumvent my girlfriend's aversion to dogs by getting an augmented reality companion instead.
Darren's Holodog "Fang" appears at the 1:20 mark, and probably (hopefully) relates to this latest trademark filing.
The trademark description reads as follows: "computer software; operating system software; virtual reality software; software for setting up, operating, configuring, and controlling wearable hardware and wearable computer peripherals". The filing landed on May 20th and was picked up by dotWeekly, a blog that tracks domain auctions. At the time of writing, the expired HoloPet.com domain is sitting at a $500 bid on GoDaddy with only two days to go. I'd imagine Microsoft will be the ones to pick it up.
The timing of this trademark filing is interesting. With the E3 gaming expo just a few weeks away, Microsoft could be gearing up to reveal some of HoloLens' more "fun" features, putting the productivity focus to one side. Microsoft already sports various augmented reality game related patents, some of which I went through in a speculative article here.
While the trademark filing falls short of describing augmented reality pets outright, I think it's a fair assumption. There's always the chance it could be an abstract name for some other sort of system or software, but dammit, I want my holodog.
Holopets would certainly fit the bill as part of a HoloLens presentation with a recreational focus, and it's only a matter of time before we find out more. In the meanwhile, I'll be thinking of names for my HoloPets.
Source: Trademarks411 via dotWeekly.
