Stop trying to make face happen… The results are in, and Meta’s got vision problems. According to company docs scored by The Wall Street Journal, the tech titan’s Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses (picture: built-in cameras, mic) look to be a flop. The internal report showed that as of February, fewer than 10% of the glasses were being used — that’s only 27K users out of the 300K glasses said to have sold. Meta reportedly hoped to move 478K.
Ray-Banned: Launched nearly two years ago in partnership with glasses giant EssilorLuxottica, $300 Ray-Ban Stories were met with mixed reviews and privacy concerns.
New frame who dis: Meta is said to be working on a second gen of the camera-equipped glasses, aiming to release them by next spring.
It's not just Ray-Bans… Meta has struggled to get shoppers on board with its face-wearable vision. It recently slashed the price of its Quest 2 and Quest Pro headsets, and Meta’s Reality Labs division saw a nearly $8B operating loss in the first half of this year. (FYI: last week Meta said it would rework virtual reality Horizon Worlds following glacial user growth.) But the issue may be bigger than Meta: other attempts at face gadgets like Google Glass and Snap Spectacles also flopped. That Ray-Ban Stories (which look like regular trendy glasses) may be failing, too, could point to a broader issue.
Incremental tweaks can’t fix fundamental flaws… Despite sluggish sales and low user #s, Meta has marched forward with newer versions of its face wearables. Now Apple plans to enter the ring with its $3.5K Apple Vision Pro early next year. But it may not find any more success than previous entrants if the fundamental issue is that people don’t want computers on their face. BTW: an early reviewer called Apple’s new AR headset experience “awfully isolating.”