Abandons Daydream to the island of broken toys.

Google came up with a great name and a great industrial design for the Daydream, its entry into VR for the Android world, but the company seemed to forget about it after the initial splash. Do you remember when there used to be long lines to try out the latest headsets on the scene? Those lines weren’t for the Daydream. First, Google just didn’t seem to put it out there much, and then when it did make an appearance at tradeshows and conferences, no one cared anymore.

Now it’s official—sort of. Google still has an active website for Daydream and has not officially made any end-of-life statements, but the company has said it will no longer be updating the Daydream software. Unnoticed, unloved, and now unsupported.

What do we think?

We, or rather I, think that VR is going to need another few rides on the merry-go-round before it finds its way into a consumer market. In the meantime, the only companies who seem to be making progress, and that progress is modest, are those providing professional tools for industrial and scientific use. Microsoft is building an environment for professional VR with hardware and software partners.

Google has never been burdened by sentimentality, so it’s not surprising it has abandoned Daydream. For a while, it seemed to put more resources into AR, the Tango platform, and ARCore, but that front has gone quiet as well. Again, AR is a technology that makes more sense for industrial uses and heads up displays.

As Daydream drifts away, HP is entering the scene with Reverb (https://www.jonpeddie.com/reviews/hps-reverb-vr-headset).