Is Oculus capturing the VR market? No, but may be. A good analysis is at Road to VR: Rift Sale Eases Buyer’s #1 Concern, But All-in Cost Still Hinders Mainstream Traction.

The TL:DR

Simplified, the big road block to mass acceptance is PRICE. The next biggest obstacle is Content Quality.

So, will this summer’s Oculus sale and price drop turn things around? It is a solid may be and probably not. Sales will improve because of the price drop. Oculus will capture some market share because of the price drop.

However, it is Samsung’s Gear VR that dominates the market. In the first quarter of 2017, Samsung shipped 490,000 headsets according to International Data Corporation (IDC). That is 21% of the market.

Sony is behind them with 429,000. HTC has shipped 191,000 Vive headsets (@ US$800 a pop). Oculus shipped 100,000 Rifts plus Alcatel’s 91,000 Rifts, putting about an equal number of Rifts and Vives into the market.

There are no numbers on Google’s Daydream/Cardboard.

I would think Cardboard users would be those essentially out for a VR test drive. Lacking any compelling apps or WAY HANDY services, VR is remaining a novelty. I’m pretty sure I didn’t put my Gear on last week. Its baleful eyes stare at me hoping for attention like a lonely puppy. Aaawww…

My disappointment is the quality of content. Also, it has been surprisingly difficult to get Gear working with a wide range of media and services. I expected Second Life to be a pain. Not Steam and most other services. You actually have to study the tutorials to get things working.

And… is it just me or is it next to impossible to bookmark 360 & VR images and video so you can return to them?

Basically, VR is still not ready for prime time, if you expect to use VR as easily as you browse the web.