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Comment by rboyd | Hacker News Reader

We saw the potential when Oculus Rift DK1 shipped and the improvements made in such a short span betweek DK2 and the consumer version. You don't have to be very creative to extrapolate that forward. Form factor shrinks, resolution increases, VR and AR merge.

Seems pretty obvious to many of us that it has huge potential. Why do you think it does not?

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Probably due to the same reasons Apple Watch and Google Glass failed with (most) consumers. It's nice as a gimmick and probably in very specific settings, but not as a general-purpose device for daily use.

If it had infinite resolution and unlimited frame rates, would you use it?

That is why VR's design is flawed: people prefer their physical freedoms. Nobody wants to be in a VR world.

You could invest in it, but know that there's a very limited audience/market for something that would only appeal to a class of nerds, instead of the general audience.

Do you see your grandmother using it like they do their iPhone?

There is a ton of potential application -- want to walk around Prague but can't afford the vacation time or expenses? Here's virtual Prague for 13.99. Have a blast. Educational experiences. Movies.

Unfortunately, I'm pessimistic and think people want to use it to do things that they shouldn't irl.

What is wrong with targeting niche markets? Even if only "nerds" were targeted (the gaming market) that would be HUGE.

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