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Pre-orders for VR device HTC Vive will go live February 29
HTC Corp. has announced that its highly anticipated virtual reality headset, HTC Vive, will be available for pre-order on February 29, but there is still no information on how much the device will cost.
While it had originally looked like HTC Vive would be the first high-end virtual reality headset to hit the market, HTC announced last month that it would be delaying the release of Vive until April, citing “a very, very big technological breakthrough” as the primary reason for the delay.
Earlier this month at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), HTC revealed it had added a new front-facing camera to the Vive headset with the goal of allowing users to see their surroundings while still wearing the headset.
“Being able to take a seat, find your drink and carry on conversations without removing your headset is only the beginning of what’s possible,” HTC said at the time.
Better known to the general public as a smartphone maker, HTC is betting heavily on the future of virtual reality, and in a recent interview with The Telegraph, HTC CEO Cher Wang said that VR is now “more important” than phones for the company.
Vive vs Rift: Which will cost more?
One of the biggest debates raging in the nascent virtual reality industry is the question of cost. Earlier this month, Oculus VR finally stopped playing coy about price and revealed that the Oculus Rift would cost an eye-watering $599, significantly higher than many potential buyers were hoping.
Despite the outcry from some of the online community, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey said that the price is lower than it should be, and that Oculus is actually selling Rift at a loss. However, Luckey did admit that he could have handled the discussion on the headset’s price better, saying, “I handled the messaging poorly.”
For better or worse, HTC seems to be following Oculus’ lead by staying mum about how much Vive will cost, but it seems unlikely that the device will be any cheaper than the Rift.
If that were the case, HTC would probably already be shouting it from the rooftops.
Photo by pestoverde
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