It is still not affordable. A decent 3D TV still costs around $1,000 (with great TVs being around $1,500).
You don't find it all contradictory to say they aren't affordable, and then say they cost less than HDTV's did when they started booming?
I seriously think 3D will be dead in five years. The 3DS might throw a monkey wrench into that prediction but it also might actually hasten the demise of the 3D fad as it will get people used to no glasses, which the TVs probably won't be able to do.
Actually, the 3DS is proof that 3D is here to stay. The most popular system EVER is going to incorporate the tech, and you don't think that bodes well?
Also, they already have autostereoscopic TVs:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/03/philips-dimenco-3d-tv-of-the-glasses-free-future-hopefully-our/http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/04/toshiba-regza-gl1-wants-you-to-put-down-the-glasses-enjoy-the-3/Obviously, the tech is still burgeoning, but it will improve over a short span of time, and become the standard. And even beyond that, people are willing to, and do pay for 3D that requires glasses in their homes, so this will take off as well.
Why do you suppose so many companies are jumping on the 3D bandwagon? To throw money away? No. It is because despite the limited 3D content out there, people are still buying 3D TVs and Blu-Ray players. ESPN has a 3D channel, and while they currently only show one game a week in 3D, consider the fact that ESPN is part of Disney, which also owns ABC. The sports arena is an obvious testing phase before shows like No Ordinary Family on ABC, and the Wizards of Waverly Place on Disney(?) are also shown in 3D. Plain and simply, 3D is cool, and now that it can be placed affordably in homes, it is going to grow.
In the 50's and 80's very few movies were shown in 3D, while in 2010, I think something like 1/3 of movies have the 3D option. Yes, tacked on 3D sucks, but movies filmed from the beginning for the purpose of 3D will push the tech.
And yes, people want holograms, and guess what; that technology isn't really all that far away either. I would ten years at the MOST before holographic projectors start showing up in people's homes.
3D is beginning this generation just like HDTVs began, slowly and with little content. Now look, everything is in HD, and people use the term HD for things that aren't even in HD. That's how it goes, once affordable, it is popular and everyone makes content for it.