Rift availability after first lot of ~10,000?

[rmcclelland]

I'm curios what the Rift Dev kit availability will be after the first fabrication lot of 10,000 that has been referenced by the Oculus team.

I'm thinking about pre-ordering a second unit for demonstrations or in-case my first unit is broken. If there will be near continuous availability after ~April then I won't bother. However, if they won't be available for several months, perhaps I should...

[Okta]

I think they are still available for order. I was wondering this also. I don't think they will be building many 'spares' that have not been ordered because of up front costs no small company would want to be stuck with surplus stock. After the initial production run winds down it might be the case the it is never restarted for the dev kit so it may be prudent to get in while they are around. It wouldn't surprise me if the scalper market gets involved as well.

[PasticheDonkey]

if the rifts a success then the dev kit/first available version for the general public maybe worth a pretty penny. but it's also nice owning a potential part of history.

[pewpewk]

Continuous availability is probably unlikely, but I don't think there's going to be a shortage. Eventually they'll sell out, but I wouldn't worry about it for a while and my bet is on a warning a month or so before that happens from the folks at Oculus.

[Direlight]

It will be successful as long as they work. Unlike other VR attempts, Oculus has everything solved.

- Cheap
- Lightweight
- Funding
- Good quality screens
- Good quality optics
- Stereoscopic
- Pre-warping
- Good field of view
- Full headtracking, low latency
- Developer support for actual games (not VR demos)
- Growing Buzz
- Glowing reviews I've never seen so widespread

[German]

if the rifts a success then the dev kit/first available version for the general public maybe worth a pretty penny.

Mass produced technology rarely ever works out that way.

[Delryn]

It will be successful as long as they work. Unlike other VR attempts, Oculus has everything solved.

- Cheap
- Lightweight
- Funding
- Good quality screens
- Good quality optics
- Stereoscopic
- Pre-warping
- Good field of view
- Full headtracking, low latency
- Developer support for actual games (not VR demos)
- Growing Buzz
- Glowing reviews I've never seen so widespread

They've also solved the convergence problem.

But they don't have everything solved. On the to-do list:

- Further reduce latency (new screen should address this)
- Increase resolution (what I'm particularly worried about)
- Positional tracking
- Consumer advertising (fairly difficult, as this is a see-to-believe product)
- A good control scheme (half their responsibility, and half dev responsibility)

[Mystify]

- Consumer advertising (fairly difficult, as this is a see-to-believe product)

I suspect word of mouth would be the primary thing that will help this take off. Sure, most people will probably not be swayed by advertisments, but if your friend tells you their rift is awesome, or even better, lets you try it, then it would have more weight. The reason I believed the rift would work and was willing to invest in a dev kit was because there were several developers I respect who tried it out and said it was awesome.

[NikoKun]

I would have to assume, and hope, that once the number of orders gets to the point where they can't produce anymore Dev Kits, or they want to start focusing more on the consumer model, they'll simply close the Order page entirely, until the next model's pre-order phase.

Anything else wouldn't really be fair. It's cruel to allow someone to order, then months later have to cancel and refund it, or hold off their order for a year towards the newer model. It's simply better to just disallow any new orders, once the number placed reaches a limit. That way they can fill the remaining existing orders, and everyone's relatively happy.

I'm sure they've been keeping a close eye on the order quantity, especially after CES pretty much doubled their website pre-orders. I'd certainly be interested in hearing from Palmer, as to what their plans are in this regard tho. heh

[MSat]

I have to imagine that Oculus will want to get the consumer version on store shelves with demo areas and all. Shouldn't take up much real estate, and people will probably want to buy it as soon as they try it out.

[Mystify]

I have to imagine that Oculus will want to get the consumer version on store shelves with demo areas and all. Shouldn't take up much real estate, and people will probably want to buy it as soon as they try it out.

That would make sense. Stores already put up areas for consoles/games and have demo TVs, so they clearly understand the value of display models.

[PasticheDonkey]

i was thinking at some point there could be basically the equivalent of bowling alleys for vr. they'd use stuff people cant use at home like expensive force feedback rigs or omnidirectional treadmills and other haptic tech that lets you feel stuff as well as see and hear it.

[MSat]

i was thinking at some point there could be basically the equivalent of bowling alleys for vr. they'd use stuff people cant use at home like expensive force feedback rigs or omnidirectional treadmills and other haptic tech that lets you feel stuff as well as see and hear it.

VRcades have been discussed here before. And I agree, it would be awesome for all those reasons you mentioned.

[Delryn]

In-store demos, and word-of-mouth are probably the way to go. Unfortunately retail electronics stores are a dying breed.

What will help are the third-party drivers that are being made and advertised on this forum. Forcing Rift support on a bunch of games will definitely help. Though I don't want devs to rely on third party drivers. As good as they might be, it'll be better if the devs code it into the game.

[KBK]

I think they are still available for order. I was wondering this also. I don't think they will be building many 'spares' that have not been ordered because of up front costs no small company would want to be stuck with surplus stock. After the initial production run winds down it might be the case the it is never restarted for the dev kit so it may be prudent to get in while they are around. It wouldn't surprise me if the scalper market gets involved as well.

Safety margins might require an approximate 1% to maybe 3% stock overhead to deal with potential issues.

The nice part is that all the items are the same, not 10,000 different SKU's.

That to do this right, they'll have to prepare for potentials in the 3% and be ecstatic if they get to 1%.

This ratio also includes the shipping. The shipping being the most uncontrollable and error ridden aspect of the entire thing.



With functional product....The majority of all problems happen with shipping. The number two position in the list of losses...is crap from buyers who expect a company to eat the costs of mishandling and misuse of product, by said customer.

That the most money can be saved and the most hassle removed, when an experienced shipper, one who is experienced with world wide shipping concerns.... is at the helm of the shipping department.

If one can get the losses from shipping and the losses from customer ineptness down to a combined total of around 1%, then you are golden, and one of the gods of manufacturing, as a direct sell company.

packaging design and implementation of said packaging, for the purposes of shipping, looms very high, as being THE number one core component of losses, unless it is taken care of. Understand the UPS 5 foot drop test (onto a cement floor). That it WILL happen, multiple times, to each package.

Number two and easily the most critical after packaging is correctly implemented... is incorrect shipping information for the ship to address in the given countries and destinations.

[KBK]

My quick estimate, is 15-25 days to get the ~5000 landed units out the door. This concerns shipping alone.

[Direlight]

The factory workers are probably going to make some "spares" for home use.

[KBK]

The factory workers are probably going to make some "spares" for home use.

I was going to mention that, but I thought I might be overstepping my bounds, more than I normally do.

That they might want to be in on the assembly in the physical sense, big time. That slipping one out the back... is essentially a quick look at someone else's proto ..which is a big scoop. In the case of this unit, a + one month advantage over any other attempt that would have to wait for their dev kit to arrive.

I know of many cases of this happening, some personally. I remember a case where a prototype of one of the very first pico projectors was stolen right under someone's nose.

Welcome to the world of corporate and industrial espionage. Think paranoid, but try to keep sane. Simply put, be security minded, in the appropriate ways in the appropriate places and times.

'tis my understanding that most of the people who have come into the company are from a realm where this was an issue, so I think it will be covered fairly well.

[Endothermic]

Don't forget they said the factory will be shutdown for 4 weeks or so for the chinese new year, which of course they won't be actually shut down but instead running off their devkit knockoffs

Gonna be paranoid then we may as well go all the way

[neverman]

Don't forget they said the factory will be shutdown for 4 weeks or so for the chinese new year, which of course they won't be actually shut down but instead running off their devkit knockoffs

Gonna be paranoid then we may as well go all the way

I'm afraid the factory will shut down for sure.Chinese spring festival is THE most important vacation in China.

[greenknight]

- Consumer advertising (fairly difficult, as this is a see-to-believe product)

I suspect word of mouth would be the primary thing that will help this take off. Sure, most people will probably not be swayed by advertisments, but if your friend tells you their rift is awesome, or even better, lets you try it, then it would have more weight. The reason I believed the rift would work and was willing to invest in a dev kit was because there were several developers I respect who tried it out and said it was awesome.

The rift could be used to advertise other products. Sound cheesy I know, but it is truly a captive audience!

[Direlight]

I don't think they'll steal it, they're the manufacturer. Rift is all ready being publicly sold. No secrets.

[greenknight]

Snip snip
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Number two and easily the most critical after packaging is correctly implemented... is incorrect shipping information for the ship to address in the given countries and destinations.

I think everyone got to confirm their address for shipping the rift awhile back, right? Also, do you work in manufacturing and if so, doing what?

[KBK]

Snip snip
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Number two and easily the most critical after packaging is correctly implemented... is incorrect shipping information for the ship to address in the given countries and destinations.

I think everyone got to confirm their address for shipping the rift awhile back, right? Also, do you work in manufacturing and if so, doing what?

A/V work, one could say.

Having an address in hand is not the same as putting the information into the UPS software system, with regard to things going where both parties (buyer and seller) want them to go. It's not a big thing... but it can be, for some given situations. I've found myself on dozens or more occasions... fighting with one address for hours, looking up codes and address formats. Guessing is not an option, and the buyer may not know that this potential issue exists.

That the buyer hands over their address in what they feel is a 'normal fashion', but it is very unclear for the shipper, the UPS software and the UPS sorting and final delivery. This happens far too often.

Normally this is a situation that a manufacturer never needs to worry about, as normally...they are shipping skids of products, through established means via established carriers to established addresses and customers.

Mailing out products like a retailer, ie, ~10k dev kits to about the same number of addresses....presents a whole 'nuther situation.