I dismiss immersive shared viewing experiences from couch distance (also known as "lean-back" viewing). You can have "lean-forward" experiences on the TV, but t

I dismiss immersive shared viewing experiences from couch distance (also known as "lean-back" viewing). You can have "lean-forward" experiences on the TV, but they need to be continuously interactive like a video game. But at couch distance, you have to pick whether an experience is "lean-back" or "lean-forward": consumers dislike switching back and forth frequently. And whether or not I think consumer VR will succeed depends on the definition of success. Do I think it will be a multi-billion dollar market? Absolutely. Do I think it will remain a niche within the larger video gaming / media market? Absolutely. I do not think consumer VR will ever be the norm, but I think that there will also be some compelling VR experiences that will draw a significant number of people into them. Augmented reality has far more promise as a consumer technology that's more than a fad. VR is pretty much only useful for media consumption; when you're immersed in a virtual world you're not immersed in the normal world, so its use will be reserved for those times you can ignore what's happening around you. Augmented reality is a multi-purpose tool: it's a general purpose display that enriches the world around you, and can thus be used to enrich every day experiences. But the display technology for augmented reality is a lot trickier.