Stores of the Vive headset are now stable enough that HTC can fulfill orders of the virtual reality headset in just three days. Along with being offered with two- to three-day shipping, the Vive is now being sold at retail outlets.
HTC has seen "incredible interest in Vive" since preorders began in late February and orders began going out in early April, according to Dan O'Brien, vice president of VR at HTC.
"Working with our retail partners has only enhanced that momentum because more people are able to try the only truly immersive virtual reality offering on the market today," O'Brien says.
While the interest in the Vive may have been high early on, that excitement was dampened by hiccups in the preorder and order fulfillment process for the earliest of adopters. Back when HTC began fulfilling preorders in April, customers were plagued by issues with cancelled orders and downgraded shipping.
For customers who had their preorders cancelled, HTC allowed them to regain their places in line. And for those who had their express shipping downgraded to standard, HTC tendered refunds within five to 10 business days after learning of the errors.
This month, that excitement may be returning. HTC has expanded demo locations for the Vive to hundreds of retail stores in North America. Microsoft Stores have been expanding their demo locations from 29 to 51, and GameStop from 10 to 40, while Micro Center's count has doubled to 10.
Those same retail outlets — Microsoft, Micro Center and GameStop — will begin fulfilling preorders of the Vive this week. And if customers are impressed by demoes of the VR suite of hardware and software, they can bring home a Vive bundle for $800.
While price has been a pain point for early VR adoption, especially with the cost of the Vive, SuperData Research's Stephanie Llamas, director of research for AR and VR, indicated that awareness may be a huge hurdle for the nascent industry.
"The general public are mostly unaware of Virtual Reality with 50 percent of Americans showing no interest in or knowledge of VR," Llamas said. "Broad consumer adoption relies on building awareness, but today nearly 80 percent of consumers only occasionally or never hear about VR."
With both Oculus and HTC having shipping issues early on, SuperData Research initially had to slightly lower its expectations for the industry's growth this year. The firm's most recent forecast for the industry's 2016 revenues was $2.9 billion, although things may be looking up, now that HTC has apparently solved its shipping woes.
