The HTC Vive is easily one of the most impressive virtual reality experiences available. Of course, this also does mean that it is one of the most expensive units on the market, with its price currently standing at $799.99 in the U.S. A possible reason as to why recent reports suggest early Vive pre-orders (along with early HTC 10 sales) have not contributed to the sort of YoY increase HTC were likely hoping for.
Another issue that has arisen with Vive since its release is its general transition from a pre-order to a unit shipped. Up until now, it has been the case that a number of interested parties have had to wait for their pre-orders to be fulfilled. However, this is in particular an issue which HTC is now looking to rectify as the company has announced today that they are now decreasing turnaround times to about 2-3 days. As a result, if you do plan to order a HTC Vive then HTC are now looking to confirm that any units purchased worldwide (24 countries) will ship within 72 hours of an order being placed. In addition, HTC is also confirming that orders placed through various third-party retailers including Microsoft Stores, GameStop and Micro Center locations will now also begin to be fulfilled this week.
One of the big hurdles for virtual reality and especially the more expensive units is getting consumers to try the platform. After all, virtual reality is something that does need to be tried to be really appreciated and HTC is also looking to ensure it can offer the experience to as many potential customers as possible. This will occur through HTC expanding the number of demo locations to 100 throughout the U.S. during June. The expansion will see the number of Microsoft Stores demo locations increasing from 29 stores to 51 stores, GameStop demo locations from 10 stores to 40 stores and Micro Center demo locations from 5 stores to 10 stores. In addition to a number of other locations as well. Whether or not the decrease in time between ordering and shipping and the greater levels of potential customer exposure will help to increase sales remains to be seen, however, it is at least a positive for those who had been thinking of picking the unit up but had been put off by the reported shipping delays.