Earlier quoted context omitted.
> for example, sitting on the bus with it You'd use an $800 device (with limited awareness of your surroundings) on the bus?
People use their 1200 dollar / euro phones on the bus and in the street at night all the time. Not sure what you're suggesting specifically about public transport - but I would never wear a visually occluding headset on a bus in Ireland. But I would wear it on a coach here, or on a bus in Germany, which has a much safer public culture. Providing it had a small form factor, was relatively discrete etc.
and it's not just the crime angle, it's things like not missing your stop or being aware of the people moving around you so that you're not a nuisance.