A supply chain report surfacing today finds the Virtual Reality craze that hit the market this year with the introduction of the Oculus Rift to be a great disappointment. The report notes that demand for related applications has been weakening recently. Yet vendors such as Acer and Asustek Computer have shifted major resources to developing VR/AR devices for 2017 despite the lack of consumer interest.   

The report notes that many research firms' numbers also have shown that VR product sales in 2016 have been weaker than expected due to lack of content and high product costs. VR/AR technologies also require more improvement in order to stimulate demand from both the consumer and enterprise sectors.

Sony's PSVR, Google's Daydream View, HTC's Vive, Oculus Rift and Samsung Electronics' Gear VR have all achieved sales that are weaker than market expectations.

For the first quarter 2017, Acer is planning to release a VR HMD based on the Windows Holographics platform that support mixed reality experience. Acer has also invested in IMAX VR Content Fund and established a joint venture with Sweden-based game design company Starbreeze to develop StarVR HMD.

Apple isn't diving into the VR/AR market as their competitors are. But as usual, their competitors pump up the press with fancy prototypes, super-hype and vaporware. Does it surprise anyone that this craze with HMD's isn't taking off yet?

It reminds me of Microsoft who dove into PC tablets and got the approach to the consumer market all wrong. When the iPad came to market it broke every record for a new product's adoption. Apple thought it out, approached it differently and had the right apps to make it interesting.

Apple's CEO revealed back in September that Apple has more of an interest in Augmented Reality than they do Virtual Reality. Apple has many inventions covering Augmented Reality that you could check out in our AR archives. Apple is working on several fronts at the same time such as a desktop display designed for AR applications; an indoor mapping application using AR for a future iPhone; an AR app for Apple TV in conjunction with their video conferencing FaceTime application; and various Head Mounted Displays.

Apple believes that a new device should have distinct apps for it to make it compelling. Today, the rush to VR is based on the hope of what could be, but is nowhere near delivering. When I bought my last PS4 I was under the impression that tons of games were coming. I played about two games per year since getting the console. What a waste of money and now Sony and Microsoft are revving up for next-gen consoles for extreme 4K game play with PS4 Neo and Project Scorpio. Will I get more than two or three games per year this time around? Probably not.

That's why I won't be buying a VR headset anytime soon. The level of content needed to make the investment for such a device to work just isn't there yet and I know that Apple has some really meaty projects on the drawing board for this market in the works. So I'll patiently wait and not jump to the hype of HoloLens, Oculus and other wannabe headset products.

Obviously I'm not alone on this stance as the stats that the analysts are collecting show that it's a segment that's disappointing to date and likely to remain so for some time.

This makes Apple look smarter for taking their time in developing the right content for this new market instead of aimlessly rushing to market with a me-too product. Apple is also working on multiple levels of AR for a variety of devices. They're not myopically focused on a single video headset like most others. While the coming AR and VR markets look very promising – they're still a ways off before they actually matter to most consumers. In the short term, it's all about hype and little else.

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