Taiwanese electronics company HTC Corp has announced that it will soon offer a “Business Edition” of the HTC Vive virtual reality headset, making it easier for companies to take advantage of high-end virtual reality in their business.

The new HTC Vive Business Edition will cost $1,200, which is quite a bit higher than the $799 consumer version, but the new edition will offer two big advantages over the standard version.

First, businesses will be able to purchase the device in bulk. This is important, as the consumer version is currently limited to one unit per user, so up until now, companies had a difficult time buying several headsets at once. Second, the HTC Vive Business Edition will come with a dedicated support line, offering companies a more responsive customer service experience than what regular consumers get.

Vive is already being used for a number of business applications, especially when it comes to design work. For example, a project announced by BMW earlier this year uses a combination of Vive headsets and Unreal Engine 4 to design and test vehicles in virtual reality.

“Vehicle functions and new interior designs can quickly be modelled with the aid of the visual experiences,” BMW said in a press release at the time.

“This makes it possible to simulate drives through a city while testing what the all-round view of the surrounding area is like or whether a display is poorly legible or awkward to reach depending on the viewing angle or seat position. All the time, the development engineer has the impression of sitting in a real car in a real driving situation.”

Image courtesy of HTC Corp