
HTC sold 15,000 $800 Vive virtual reality headsets in 10 minutes - vedaprodarte
http://venturebeat.com/2016/02/29/htc-sold-15000-800-vive-virtual-reality-headsets-in-10-minutes/#labnol
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pavlov
I ordered one. Now I need to get a new 1000+ € Windows computer as well.

VR lust is insane. The money could be better spent, I'm not sure if I'll have
much time to play with it anyway. I just can't help it -- this is the system
I've been waiting for since I was 10 years old.

(To be fair, I have a personal company to which I can expense all sorts of
gadgets and subtract the VAT, so the impulse buy treshold is much less. If I
were an employee, I would have thought harder about it.)

~~~
saturdaysaint
Could it be better spent? I'm not an impulsive tech buyer (rocking a 3 year
old iPhone at the moment) but I think that every so often, being an early
adopter show-off is completely worth the early adopter premium, on top of the
personal enjoyment of experiencing a polished breakthrough technology.

With the first gen iPhone, it was really delightful to show dozens of people
_the future_. Likewise, I have a strong inkling that the friends/family I show
VR to will have their minds blown in a way that will be great fun to watch,
providing them and me a lot more pleasure than if we were to wait a few years.

~~~
eterm
The 1st gen iPhone didn't even have 3g, was that really worth it?

~~~
wyattpeak
Yes. Yes it was.

People can wax lyrical all day about how there was nothing technically
sophisticated about the phone, but the day the iPhone came out was the day the
average user started caring about that sophistication.

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chiefsucker
Not a bad start for a technology that should have costed less. People complain
that this is way too expensive, but every new thing costs a lot even if it is
“just a bunch of sensors with a display”.

The more interesting question is if VR can fill more than some niches?

~~~
tux1968
It's early days. But ubiquitous augmented reality seems inevitable.

~~~
chinathrow
Why? Do you have any data points why this is inevitable?

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tux1968
Nothing profound. Just a sense that there is no real impediment to the
progression of technology from today's clunky form factor to something
unobtrusive.

You don't have to look beyond the spread of the cell phone to see that there
would be a huge demand for an "immersive iphone".

~~~
cm2187
Google glasses failed not just for technological reasons. There are lots of
people who are just not keen to wear glasses, or watches for that matter. I
doubt we will see a future where everyone is walking with a giant cooking pot
on their head.

I can see some common usage, like working in a plane. You can face a giant
spreadsheet that you only can see. For 3d modelling this will be certainly
useful.

Is it going to change significantly our way of life like mobile phones did? I
can't see how.

~~~
tux1968
You're likely to look back with a bit of a chuckle about not having seen it
coming. Just my guess of course, i've been wrong before.

Google glasses were still way too clunky; ubiquity may not happen in earnest
until the technology comes as contact lenses. That's still science fiction,
but far from impossible. And many of us wear glasses already, so wearing
something discrete that doesn't look as ridiculous as google glasses did,
would already be embraced.

There is a huge opportunity for such tech to change our life as much as the
cell phone. Discrete heads up display with instructions for new objects,
forgotten names, dates, places etc.. Beautiful, personalized artwork and decor
at the office and home. The list is endless.

~~~
cm2187
I am sure that models in 10 years will not be these huge plastic pieces but
they will nevertheless cover the eyes to overlay anything useful. I don't like
wearing glasses or anything else on my head. I don't think that will change.

~~~
Ao7bei3s
> I don't like wearing glasses or anything else on my head. I don't think that
> will change.

As you get older, you will likely develop presbyopia, and, at some point, get
comfortable with glasses.

And for the 30-40% (in Europe+USA [1]) of people who (unlike you) are already
near-sighted and are thus already wearing glasses anyway (unless they have
contact lenses), VR glasses shouldn't be a problem.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myopia#Epidemiology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myopia#Epidemiology)

~~~
cm2187
I was wearing glasses for years when I decided I'd rather not see perfectly
and not have to wear them. I only do when driving now. Which is why I am less
than excited with the perspective of having to carry more stuff on my head.

And I am sure that many people will.

I am not saying that VR headsets won't be useful. I can see a future when your
laptop will basically just be a keyboard, and your VR headset your screen.
Doesn't mean you will wear it all the time though.

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davidiach
That's $12 million in 10 minutes. Impressive!

I wonder how many headsets they will sell in the first year, but seeing how
much interest there is, I won't be surprised if they sell more than 1 million.

~~~
kazehana03
I hope they can sell more but the technology is still too new for ordinary
consumer. Developers may need to find out more possibilities and functions for
it first.

~~~
SixSigma
Simple: pornography

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kazehana03
What else do we need to use a VR device? Do they cost a lot? e.g. Film Cameras
were not expensive but films were. PS4 is not expensive but the games are. (to
me)

~~~
Raphmedia
You need a mean computer.

Otherwise, lots of free room if you want to enjoy room scale VR.

If you want to really enjoy driving games, you want a good steering wheel. If
you want to enjoy flying games, you need a good stick. Those two can get up to
$200 each.

~~~
bryanlarsen
Controllers. People are still experimenting with control schemes, I expect to
see lots of different options come out before things settle down.

Software. VR is a niche market, so prices may need to be high to recoup R&D
until volume is there.

According to reviews, this is awesome.
[http://www.virtuix.com/](http://www.virtuix.com/) $699, plus extras.

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Grue3
I'm not really interested in this technology, but I hope HTC manages to stay
afloat. And make a true successor of HTC One M7, which I still use to this
day.

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padobson
Are headsets the only path to VR right now? I could see this vastly altering
the gaming market, where very few experiences are shared unless a network is
involved. But I don't see VR being a paradigm shift on the order of the
smartphone unless you can easily share the experience with someone who walks
in the room and asks what you're doing. These bulky headsets don't afford
that.

~~~
FLGMwt
I own a developer kit (DK2) Rift and AFAIK all games mirror what the wearer is
seeing onto the primary monitor. Which is good for sharing an individual's
experience, but doesn't do much for group experiences.

I'm pretty excited for more asymmetrical games and experiences along the lines
of [http://www.keeptalkinggame.com/](http://www.keeptalkinggame.com/) (which
is hilariously fun). I don't own a WiiU, but I've heard it has some pretty
good asymmetrical examples as well.

~~~
VikingCoder
The SDKs are starting to support "Direct Mode," which puts the contents only
on the HMD, not mirrored onto the primary. That may or may not be optional,
and may or may not have a performance hit if you turn it off.

I think something like livestreaming to a Chromecast would be cool.

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mrfusion
Are they stil available or actually sold out now?

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tagabek
They're still available

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okamiueru
Are they still available in the same shipping window? I read of some people no
longer seeing "Ships in April", but May. I have not seen any confirmation of
this from anywhere credible.

~~~
mrfusion
Still not too bad I guess. I wonder what their total sales dos the day were
like.

~~~
okamiueru
sales *for the day?

I'm curious about that too. The first 4 hours / day seems like a more relevant
metric. I was ready when the countdown hit 0, and it took 55 minutes before I
could manage to pre-order one.

~~~
mrfusion
I hear you. I spent ten minutes trying to find the order page. I naively
thought it would just show up when the countdown hit 0.

