After launching the Vive VR internationally in April 2016, HTC has finally brought its virtual reality headset to India. We'd exclusively reported the upcoming launch of the HTC Vive headset in India earlier this week, and the announced pricing of Rs. 92,990 falls in line with our report, as is the expected May availability.
The HTC Vive will be exclusively available via Amazon India and pre-orders will begin from Saturday, April 22, rather than April 20 as previously expected, although the date could have been pushed due to the launch of Amazon’s Fire TV Stick
Meanwhile, the Vive site will also be up by April 25 and HTC is setting up in-store experience across select locations in the country. We can expect the pre-orders to start shipping next month.
“We are delighted to launch Vive in India. Vive has totally transformed the way we interact with the world, bringing ultimate mainstream experience to the consumer. Now consumers and developers can experience immersive virtual reality in a way that reshapes human imagination beyond boundaries,” Faisal Siddiqui, President-South Asia, HTC said.
At Rs. 92,990 a piece, the HTC Vive headset is by no means easy on the pocket. The market for high-end VR headsets in India is still in its nascent stage and the company may see a slow start. Compared to the HTC Vive, Sony’s PS VR, which is available in the country, is priced far cheaper at Rs. 41,990 and has reportedly sold quite well. We’ll just have to wait and see how the HTC Vive fares in the country. In the US, the HTC Vive costs $799 (around Rs. 52,000). The Oculus Rift on the other hand costs $499 (roughly Rs. 32,200), and is yet to make its way into the subcontinent.
As part of its launch in India, HTC is also offering two fully-fledged VR experiences - Everest VR and Richie’s Plank Experience. The former virtually lets you experience climbing the climbing Mount Everest, while the latter will make you experience walking on a plank 80 stories high up. Both are aimed to give you an idea of the immersive experience you get with HTC’s VR headset.
HTC Vive owners will also be able to access a number of apps specially designed for Vive by heading over to Viveport, HTC’s app store for virtual reality. Viveport will offer you VR-based apps across education, design, art, social, video, music, sports, health, fashion, travel, news, shopping, creativity tools and more.
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