I would argue that you don't need different hardware to see "closer" to the sensors - probably just recalibrated hardware and altered focusing systems dressed up as new hardware to justify the price increase. Would be interested in an iFixIt teardown for confirmation, though.
I can't wait to see what sorts of apps come out of this. I have a dual 30'' display set up, and I'd love to be able to have some sort of "cursor follows my eyes" type of feature so that I can quickly move around all of that screen real estate.
Well, I'm disappointed that I won't be able to make my dream app without buying new hardware: a gesture recognizer that allows me to close programs by giving them the finger.
I think the real question is whether this will be integrated into Windows 8. Sounds like an amazing opportunity for MS to leapfrog iOS.
I still don't understand; why is Kinect for Windows $249 while Kinect for XBox $149? Doesn't the Kinect for XBox actually work in Windows?