HTC managed to attract an impressive 15,000 pre-orders for its Vive VR headset within the first ten minutes of availability, netting the company $12m (£8.5m) in pre-sales. The headset will start shipping on April 5.
Pre-orders for the HTC virtual reality kit opened on Monday February 29 at 3pm GMT in 24 countries, including the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Taiwan, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and in less than 10 minutes it sold 15,000 kits online, selling at a rate of 25 headsets per second, HTC executive Shen Ye shared in a Twitter post.
The kit is priced at $799 in the US, £689 in the UK and €899 in Europe and includes a headset with two wireless controllers, a front-facing camera, two base stations, a headstrap, a visual system, ear buds and other Vive accessories. The gear is also bundled with two full-fledged VR games, namely Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives by Owlchemy Labs and Fantastic Contraption by Northway Games and Radial Games, as well as Tilt Brush, by Google. For painting in 3D.
Source: IBT