Microsoft's advantage over mixed reality rivals: It has an actual product

Microsoft's Joe Belfiore, Terry Myerson, and Alex Kipman celebrate the reveal of HoloLens (2015).

With a $22 billion contract under its belt, Microsoft is currently the only company in the world making money on mixed reality, and that's a big deal.

Like many in the tech industry, I have been following the evolution of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR), all now under the rubric of extended reality (XR). Suffice it to say that the entire category has generated far more interest than actual usefulness beyond just gaming (looking at you, VR).

Microsoft has been pushing mixed reality with its HoloLens headset since it was first introduced in 2015. And six years later, there has been a lot of significant progress in the business space with little push into the consumer market.

But Microsoft does have one not-so-secret advantage over potential rivals in MR: it actually exists.

Microsoft is the only company making millions on MR, and now billions. HoloLe...