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Speculation on the 12th April/Free Shipping Email

Anonymous
Not applicable
There seem to be a number of people talking about this in various different threads, so I thought I'd start a new one and hopefully the talk about it will gravitate here and be a bit easier to find 🙂

There seem to be two main topics of conversation:-

Firstly, the wording of the email...

Oculus have given us a date of 12th April for updates. I'll be amazed if they don't meet this date or even give updates before then. Whether it's the fault of Oculus or not, there's been a major screw up on the launch. They've lost a lot of goodwill, and some (nobody knows how much, but I'll bet it's thousands) of orders because of it. They've appeased (most of) us by explaining, apologising and offering free shipping.

The email may seem slightly ambiguous, but you can guarantee it's been through umpteen Facebook lawyers before release. It's been very carefully thought through. Oculus aren't daft. They know how many people are annoyed at the delays. They've bought themselves some breathing space with this announcement and they know they have to use it. If they drop the ball again, the cancellations will flood in, especially as by April 12th, it'll be public knowledge how well the Vive launch is going. If they weren't totally confident they could meet this date and get things back on track by then, they wouldn't have given a timescale.

Secondly, the 'component' shortage...

Nobody knows what this component is. Personally, I think it's one of the items that's added into the box at the last minute, i.e. the remote. They were expecting a shipment of xx thousand of these to arrive so that they could get them into the boxes, but for whatever reason, there was a delay. If it IS a last minute item such as this, it would account for them not knowing until soon before launch that there was going to be a problem. Assuming this is the problem, it's simply a matter of getting these items in the boxes and firing the boxes out, which is why they're in a position to announce that shipping will hopefully be back on track very soon.

If it's an internal component, say a PCB, that's a bit more serious. I doubt it, as if it was, they'd have known a lot sooner that there were going to be major delays and would presumably have made an announcement before things got so out of hand. If this is the situation, then even when the components arrive, they still have to assemble the thing before they can get it into the box and send it out. I'm not sure ten days is enough time to do that in the quantities they need to ship, especially as they've announced via VR-Researcher (commonly thought to be either Palmer Luckey under an alias or someone else pretty high up at Oculus) on Reddit  that they'll hopefully be back up to speed 'next week'.

It could even be the box that Rift ships in. If you watch the vid of Palmer delivering the first Rift, the controller falls out when the box is opened. Ok, the box was opened upside down, but the controller still shouldn't fall out that easily. They may be simply putting extra padding in the box to ensure the controller doesn't fall out during transit and cause damage.

Anyway, that's my thoughts on the matter. Hopefully, all will become clearer soon! 🙂
53 REPLIES 53

Anonymous
Not applicable
My breakdown:

The remote:  I doubt it is the remote.  If it was, Oculus could have shipped on-time without the remote.  An E-mail could have been sent out letting users know that the remotes would be included at a later date (shipping free of charge).  This would have been cheaper than comping all shipping, and would have caused less frustration for users (how many of us really plan on using the remote often?).

The Xbox controller:  I have similar feelings for the X-Box controller, *except* that there could have been contractual language forbidding Oculus to distribute the Rift without an X-Box controller.  Microsoft produces millions of these controllers a year, so if it is the controller my bet would be on the wireless dongle for PCs.

The sensor:  This is where my money is as the likely culprit.  It is custom made for Oculus, and you can't use the device without it.

The box:  Another possibility, but the Rifts may very well be placed into these shortly after production.


Other possibilities:  After the sensor, I think the headphones or one of the cables are the next most likely part.  I believe the cables are also custom made (split HDMI/USB), they would not be packaged until late in the process, and the rift obviously cannot be used without them.

Anonymous
Not applicable

Zoma said:

My breakdown:

[snip]

Other possibilities:  After the sensor, I think the headphones or one of the cables are the next most likely part.  I believe the cables are also custom made (split HDMI/USB), they would not be packaged until late in the process, and the rift obviously cannot be used without them.


Aren't the cables hard-wired into the headset?

Anonymous
Not applicable
Nope, it connects to the headset via a single connector and can be removed. The cable only splits into HDMI and USB in the last 30cm but is otherwise a single removable cable.

flyingsaucers
Expert Protege
How disgustingly hilarious would it be if the xbone controller - the one thing that none of us even want - is the "missing component" that's causing these delays.

Gherron
Protege
Nobody thinks it was the lenses?  I had seen that mentioned previously as a rumor.  That would be worrisome since you have to pretty much disassemble the entire headset to fix that.  

Anaximedes
Explorer

Gherron said:

Nobody thinks it was the lenses?  I had seen that mentioned previously as a rumor.  That would be worrisome since you have to pretty much disassemble the entire headset to fix that.  


Really. I've read here at this forum a couple of days ago something about the lenses but I think it's about April's fool, it would be catastrophic.

Blackout19
Explorer
I would expect the headset to be constructed in its entirety in the fab plant and shipped out complete to be boxed with accessories in the US. It is unlikely to be therefore, lenses or any other part of the HMD itself. The camera sounds like a reasonable idea, as it is something that would entirely prevent shipping from happening. I doubt it's the Microsoft parts, as those are in stock all over the world right now and are a standard item. Could also be the small media remote.

As ever, this is all just speculation, and the main thing is that they hopefully get back on track and we all get our CV1's soon (tm) 

KBK
Protege
as a manufacturer of electronics, etc, I'm not going to bother to speculate.

It could be anything. any chip. One of the chips is the most likely suspect.

Oh yeah, could be the small custom OLED panels, as well. Anything at all.

These days it is 'just in time' manufacturing, and a big unexpected order que (sold out items), could cause this sort of problem.
Intelligence... is not inherent - it is a point in understanding. Q: When does a fire become self sustaining?

Percy1983
Superstar


How disgustingly hilarious would it be if the xbone controller - the one thing that none of us even want - is the "missing component" that's causing these delays.


I want the one in my box.
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Jokergod2000
Adventurer
Was the Reddit post the day before mentioning the screw up on the lens proven to be false? Seems like the "component shortage" may be the lens's?