To hear Apple CEO Tim Cook tell it, augmented reality — the hot new technology for projecting digital images into the real world, Pokémon Go-style — is "a big idea like the smartphone."

But to Alex Kipman, Microsoft Technical Fellow and chief inventor of Microsoft's pioneering augmented reality headset HoloLens, that's underselling it.

Augmented reality and virtual reality technology will have a far bigger impact than smartphones ever did, Kipman told Business Insider in an interview.

"The potential of these devices," he said, is that they could one day "replace your phones, TVs, and all these screens." Once your apps, videos, information, and even social life are projected into your line of sight, you won't need any other screen-based gadgetry. Kipman calls it the "natural conclusion" of mixed reality.

That's a leap forward on par with the advent of internet, which changed how people communicated and did business; the smartphone didn't really do anything new, it just put the internet in your pocket, he says.

Google, Facebook, Apple, and Google-backed startup Magic Leap are all working around the clock trying to conquer the mixed reality future for themselves.

But Microsoft, after missing the boat on the mobile market, is now in the enviable position of being one of the leading players in the nascent mixed reality market, thanks to its HoloLens headset.

And Kipman is determined not to squander that early advantage.

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While Kipman appreciates the other companies and their work — "we're all birthing a whole ecosystem" — he says Microsoft remains in first place, with the most complete platform out there. Beyond just HoloLens, Microsoft has also been investing in helping its PC manufacturer partners come up with Windows-compatible VR headsets.

Kipman has long been adamant that the HoloLens, currently available to developers for $3,000, will only be released to consumers when it's good and ready, but he says that Microsoft is still setting the pace of innovation.

"HoloLens leads the way," Kipman says.

The Microsoft advantage

Microsoft has something of a history of swinging for the fences and missing. Kipman himself led development of the Microsoft Kinect, which sold about 29 million units before just kind of fading away. But while he says that Microsoft has had its share of "bloody noses" over the years, "they're in the past."

With HoloLens in particular and the overall Windows mixed reality strategy in general, Kipman says, Microsoft has an "authentic structural focus," giving it several key advantages in terms of both technology and how it goes about accomplishing its mission.

For starters, Kipman says that Microsoft boss Satya Nadella is "the most product-driven CEO ever," with the vision and foresight necessary to lead the company into this mixed reality future. It's a critical play for Microsoft, as the continued shrinkage of the PC industry makes this a do-or-die moment for Windows.

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And in terms of the technology, Kipman says that HoloLens is only made possible because Microsoft has been investing in the necessary underpinnings for many years now.