speaking to individuals at CES (January 10, 2016), what’s clear is that one of the most biggest items of news at the express wasn’t really CES information at all: Oculus’ announcement of pricing and availability for the Rift. (March 28, and $599, by way of the way).

What’s fascinating is how clear it’s that Oculus, owned with the aid of fb, has studied at the toes of Apple. and the way do we know that? well, on Monday, Oculus introduced that it was once opening up for pre-orders, and on Wednesday, it announced pricing and availability. In other words, it obtained two whole news cycles out of what was once primarily a single piece of stories.

Oculus would possibly quibble with the argument that opening up for pre-orders and pricing/availability is similar news, but i think the rest of us comprehend that they’re. principally, they must have announced all of it on the related time. however via doing one on Monday and every other on Wednesday, they have been in a position to steal thunder from the countless TVs and self sufficient passenger drones and smart fridges and wearables and everything else at CES. no longer simply as soon as, however twice. Pure Apple genius.

in fact, Oculus (and its founder, Palmer Luckey) nonetheless had to care for a excellent deal of anger over the price of the Rift. many people feel that $599 is way too high. anyone well-positioned within the VR business advised me (January 10, 2016) that analysts had pretty much pegged the price as $449. but with Rift/laptop bundles starting at $1,400, it turns into a very expensive proposition.

As my former colleague Scott Stein mentioned to me (January 10, 2016), what’s changing into evident is that Oculus knows there are two very numerous segments of the VR consumer market—high-end (Rift) and decrease-finish (Samsung’s gear VR)—and it might not be too involved that the upper Rift pricing locks out some folks in this first year of availability. as an alternative, it is usually content with the masses starting to use its expertise on the gear VR, after which, next year and beyond, when the Rift’s pricing comes down, people transfer up.

to make certain, lots of people will purchase the Rift. nevertheless it’s safe to claim that fewer individuals will buy it at $599 than would have at $449. A recent study urged that the highest line for many would-be VR patrons is $400.

So…time will tell. indirectly, though, what we realized is that if you have a scorching product like the Rift, you might have lots of regulate over how news about it gets launched and consumed. And if you want to get two information cycles from it, smartly, why no longer? I tip my cap to you, Mr. Palmer Luckey.