Get ready to see HTC’s standalone headset at its November 14 event

HTC is going to officially unveil its standalone VR headset November 14, at least, that’s if the poster for the Vive Developer conference is anything to go by.

The conference, held in Beijing has been officially announced with a promotional flyer in the form of a GIF, that among other things shows a glowing egg with the silhouette of the VR headset that we’re expecting from HTC.

As the old saying goes ‘a glowing egg is not a guarantee’, but considering that we’ve know that this device has been in the works for months now, the device is expected in 2017, and we’re running out of 2017, it makes perfect sense for HTC to release it now.

Powered by Viveport, the standalone headset requires no computer to run, but unlike Gear VR or other similar wireless headsets, it doesn’t use a smartphone either. It is a completely standalone device. Which is, up until now, what it’s been referred to.

What's in a name?

Now, we don’t have an official name for the headset but there are rumors doing the rounds that it could be called ‘Vive M’, as HTC has recently registered that name in China. That name will be familiar to any fans of HTC’s VR output, as the HTC Vive is currently the industry leading VR headset on the market – at least in terms of room-scale high-end experiences.

It would make sense for HTC to build on the momentum of its previous successes with its naming. What’s interesting is that in the West, the names ‘Vive Focus’ and ‘Vive Eclipse’ have been registered by HTC.

We know that the Standalone headset that’s coming to China will have an almost identical counterpart that will run on Google Daydream, which will presumably be called one of the names above. What we’re wondering is whether both headsets will be announced at the same time, or just the Chinese version. We’ll let you know as soon as we know more.

It does feel a little like history repeating, as the announcement will come after the release for Oculus Go, the standalone VR headset from Facebook, the creators of the Oculus Rift, the other horse in the two-horse race that is top-end VR at the moment.