One of the issues virtual reality is facing as an industry, is getting the hardware in potential customer hands. While the industry is one which is seeing a large degree of coverage from the media, virtual reality is one of those things that you have to experience, to truly understand what is on offer and the potential for the industry as a whole. While the higher-end options like HTC Vive is much harder to get customers to test out, Google’s Cardboard is far more accessible and affordable. In fact, over the last year a number of third-party businesses have literally been giving away Cardboard viewers to their customers.
Back in November, the New York Times was one of those businesses and in partnership with Google, they gave away one million Cardboard viewers for free. All you had to do to get one was be part of their general physical distribution and it was automatically sent to your address along with your print copy of the newspaper. Today, the New York Times has again announced they will be giving away another batch of Cardboard viewers, although there are a couple of notable differences with this latest promotion.
Firstly, the number being given away is far less this time round with 300,000 free headsets up for grabs. Secondly, in contrast to the physical print copies of the New York Times, this latest batch will solely be issued to select digital subscribers. The press releases specifically defines the selection of users as the “most loyal digital subscribers” and will be “chosen based on the duration of their subscriptions.” Viewers are due to be shipped out to those users next month and the delivery date is designed to coincide with the launch of the latest New York Time’s VR experience film, ‘Seeking Pluto’s Frigid Heart’ which looks to take those tuning in on a flight around Pluto and will be accessible through the NYT VR Android app from May 19th. An app which the New York Times confirms has so far been downloaded 600,000 times since its November 2015 launch. Those interested in finding out more about the latest Cardboard giveaway or the upcoming Pluto VR experience from the New York Times, can do so by heading through the source link below.