The first-generation HTC Vive only hit the market earlier this year after many a delay and postponement, but the company is now apparently “having internal discussions” about what Vive 2.0 should be like. According to Mr. Raymond Pao, the vice president for future technologies at HTC and Vive Corporation, the company is still in the planing stage and is yet to settle on a definite plan regarding its second-generation VR device. During the course of an interview with Upload VR, Mr. Pao claimed that the company is neither limited by time nor are the engineers desperately trying to incorporate any single feature in the second-gen Vive, although many feel that going wireless with Vive 2.0 will indeed be the way to move forward.
Those in charge of developing the second-generation HTC Vive are apparently already toying with a few ideas, but if Mr. Pao’s assertions are anything to go by, there are no concrete ideas taking shape at the moment and nothing is set in stone just as yet. While senior HTC executives like Mr. Pao may publicly assert that time will not be a constraint for the company in developing the follow-up to the Vive, the fact is that virtual and augmented reality, as a consumer technology category, has literally just started taking its first tentative steps in the mainstream retail environment. That being the case, no one can really predict with any degree of certainty, just how much time vendors like HTC or Oculus have, before their first-generation VR offerings, like the Vive and the Rift respectively, become obsolete.
Meanwhile, even as HTC seems to be in no hurry to rush its Vive 2.0 to the market, the company is planning to make VR the “next major computing platform”. According to Mr. Pao, that can only be achieved if HTC stops focusing solely on gamers and broadens its horizon to reach out to mainstream consumers with “something that could revolutionize healthcare, commerce, socialization and travel”. It is a fairly lofty target that HTC is setting for itself, and the Taiwanese firm would do well to live up to its ambitious goal. With the company’s smartphone business going through an extended period of downturn, its management, employees and fans will all be hoping that virtual reality will prove to be the magic elixir that will help the company ride out the tough times and recover from its financial difficulties.