Google Virtual CellPhone Reality

Google Cardboard has come a long way since Android honcho Sundar Pichaiintroduced it with a sheepish grin six

months ago. The smartphone virtual reality viewer, made from folded-up cardboard with a pair of attached lenses—

you supply an Android phone to provide computing power and a display—has shipped more than 500,000 units as

of early December. (You can build your own Cardboard, or buy a ready-made version from not-quite-official

sources for under $30.) Google has now added a Play Store showcase for the best Cardboard apps, and released a

software development kit to spur even more VR app creation.

For a project that took mere weeks to throw together, Cardboard has done surprisingly well. But its success also puts

it in an awkward position, somewhere between the oddball project that Cardboard appeared to be back in June and

the serious business that prompted Facebook’s $2 billion acquisition of Oculus VR in February. As virtual reality

matures, is Cardboard prepared to mature with it?