Money talks
Google on Wednesday revealed that its shipped over 5 million of its Cardboard VR headsets since launching a year and a half ago, and there might be a lesson there.
The fact that over 5 million people are willing to slap a cardboard contraption on their mug is telling. A virtual reality optimist will read it as a sign that the demand for VR is there and the hype is real. But the real lesson might be one of cost.
Lets back up a moment. Remember when Android tablets were new and shiny? In the beginning, the early models carried premium price tags in the neighborhood of $500 because they were trying to compete with Apples iPad. Android device makers quickly figured out that though consumers loved the open source platform and were interested in tablets, they wanted to cheaper devices (compared to Apples pricing). Device makers responded and suddenly Android tablets were everywhere.
Its too early to say whether or not VR products will shake out the same way—its an apples and oranges thing—but there are signs that suggest it might. One of them is the $599 pre-order price of Oculus Rift. The price caught consumers off guard, in part because earlier comments suggested the headset might retail for $350ish.
Facebook and Oculus havent said how many of Rift headsets have been sold so its hard to evaluate things (for more reasons than one). What we do know is that a basic Cardboard headset runs $20 (sometimes less), or you can build your own, and though it seems goofy (and rudimentary) by comparison, there are millions of them in the wild.
Its an interesting topic, one well have to explore down the line when the Rift and HTC Vive start shipping. In the meantime, here are some more braggadocios stats and facts from Google.
- In the past two months, installs of Cardboard apps from Google Play have increased by 10 million to over 25 million
- The top Cardboard app is Chair in a Room
- Users have watched over 350,000 hours of YouTube video in VR
- Cardboard Camera has been used to capture more than 750,000 VR photos
Neat stuff, though the bigger point here is that Cardboard owners are actively using VR.
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