Amazon takes pre-orders of Kinect for Windows

Now you could pre-order Kinect for Windows at Amazon.com for $249.99 (why they can’t simply say $250 is beyond my brains). As per their page, the Kinect for Windows will be shipped on February 1, 2012 and if you are Amazon Prime member, you could get it for free shipping in the next two business days. You could see this in the side image, which is redacted to eliminate my personal information, .

Kinect For Windows Blogs at MSDN state:

“Today, we are announcing that the new Kinect for Windows hardware and accompanying software will be available on February 1^st, 2012 in 12 countries (United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom), at a suggested retail price of US $249. Kinect for Windows hardware will be available, in limited quantities at first, through a variety of resellers and distributors. The price includes a one-year warranty, access to ongoing software updates for both speech and human tracking, and our continued investment in Kinect for Windows-based software advancements. Later this year, we will offer special academic pricing (planned at US $149) for Qualified Educational Users. “

Kinect for Windows uses the “near mode”  that enables the depth camera to see objects as close as 50 centimeters in front of the device without losing accuracy or precision, with graceful degradation down to 40 centimeters.  The updated firmware will allow developers to take advantage of this near mode and develop applications that are catered beyond the living room experience that Xbox 360+Kinect brings right now to the gaming and TV.

I am getting one, are you?