Consumer 3D faded due to:
- Lack of content, lack of content and lack of content
- It was launched in the midst of economic depression
- The 2011 quakes and tsunamis damaged manufacturing plants (as well as later floods in Thailand), after which manufacturers eliminated their consumer 3D camera products
VR faces a similar challenge of lack of content, plus VR gaming requires top of the line computing gear that few people own just yet.
Which leads to words of caution:
Early optimism that virtual reality is about to blossom into a new mainstream medium could collapse into despair
Source: Lessons from CES: How VR Can Avoid the Fate of 3D TV – IEEE Spectrum
VR seems likely to achieve success in gaming and specialized applications (engineering, science, medicine for example).
Will VR be a big story telling medium?
How will consumers react to the need to wear VR helmets?
(I use the term “VR helmets” since they are …. Consumer tech reporters said 3D required wearing “3D goggles that no one wanted to wear” – the same writers now enthusiastically endorse VR helmets because … well, wearing a helmet is simpler than wearing glasses?)
