Yes, perhaps I could have been more clear here. As I mentioned in the post, while technology is certainly not new, it's more accessible, such that creators have access to it as a new medium.
This is still a big problem that could hold the technology back... VR devs have the responsibility of creating experiences that don't cause simulator sickness. Ideally, with more powerful systems in the coming years, we'll have the ability to increase performance so our visual and vestibular cues don't get mixed up in VR.
No! To get started, there are many opportunities for VR dev on smartphones. You can even start working with hand-tracking with the new Samsung Gear/Google Daydream!
However, you do need a PC with a pretty good GPU if you want to get serious about playing with more advanced systems like the Vive and the Rift. (This was a great resource for me when I built my PC! http://www.logicalincrements.com/articles/vrguide)
I agree that there are much fewer applications of VR "now", but let's consider its timeline: the first mainstream HMD (Oculus Rift) was released in 2012. Last year (2016) was the first time that hand-tracking was introduced by Oculus and HTC. If anything is holding back the industry right now, it's the lack of content, but keep in mind that we are still incredibly early!
That's a great point. I wonder if there would be a better way to introduce meaningful, actionable topics of study to an introductory-level audience of people who may have never heard of NLP.