The Oculus shop already sells the remote, the earphones, the headset cable, the sensors, the faceplate...
So why not go all out and sell the bare CV1 too (no cables, no faceplate, no earphones...) ?
Two reasons to do that : 1) As a spare part for those who damaged their headset (as some surely already have), so you don't lose them. 2) As a smart purchase for those who just want to buy a bare CV1 (using their own gamepad, earphones, and maybe even their own self-made faceplate...).
The logistics for selling spare parts already exists, and most games/demos/films that can be played with your own gamepad can also be played without any kind of positional tracking at all (zero external sensors required), so surely it's worth a try, specially if you are carefully pointing out that you are only selling it as a "spare replacement part" (and not as a fully contained public product).
I mean the Oculus shop is selling the optional remote for 39€, the optional earphones for 49€, the less optional but certainly expensive default faceplate for 39€, the optional sensor for 69€ : That's ~200€ of mostly (overpriced ?) optional hardware right there, to which you can add the xBox gamepad, the high end packaging, and the corresponding international postage cost for all that excess size and weight...
So maybe as a simple enough but game breaking move, you could manage to sell that bare CV1 in a small but sturdy cardboard box for as little as ~379€ (~448€ with the cables) instead of ~589€ ?
Which would also put the entry price for CV1+Touch at ~567€ instead of ~708€.
Just to be clear, this isn't about reducing the CV1's price.
It's about reducing the minimum price required for someone to put his head in a CV1 and try out the Oculus Store content first hand, specially if he has no other way (friend or store) to try out a CV1. A minimum entry price that currently stands at ~589€, and which my suggestion aims to reduce to ~448€.
So even if the end price with all the options was exactly the same (or even higher), the cheaper entry price to access the Oculus Store, the option to buy the CV1 in multiple steps, and the availability of the spare part for those who break their headset... would still make this (simple enough ?) suggestion worth implementing.
It's a good idea for the consumer, but a bad idea for the business. All those options involve different packaging. Whether robots or humans are packaging them, there is still supply chain to setup for each type of packaging option. That's likely not going to happen for a few years until VR has trully hit millions of homes worldwide. Until then, it just isn't cost effective for the supplier.
Well the trick is : All those options "already exist", except for the bare CV1 itself (so that's just one more type of package to add), and the bare CV1 is needed as a spare part for those who broke it anyway.
So not only the cost is kept reasonable (only one more type of package to add, to the already existing packages), but requesting that kind of package to exist as a spare part is reasonable too.
Also they don't even have to market it as an alternative to the official CV1 package : They just put it on sale as a one more "spare part", and let the hardware sites and forums come up with the suggestion of building up a working CV1 at your own pace that way.
The headphones, although very good, sure aren't more than a $20 piece to produce, likely even less, FAR LESS. The face-mount, even less. What do you think this costs to make? I am guessing one $ at the most. Cables wouldn't be the world either. Don't judge by retail prices. Maybe $10-$15 for the cable.
Saying that the cost (now for Oculus) would be very and in-significantly less than the "full" Rift so just leaving out these penny things wouldn't all of a sudden make the Rift incredibly cheap. AT MOST, this would maybe $30-$50 less.
Edit: Just look at the ridiculous price of say, the remote as an extra. This is a piece of plastic which has likely just one single chip in it, a battery and a button. That's it. If the remote costs Oculus more than a dollar to make I'd be HIGHLY surprised.