Meta has been working hard to try and carve the right niche that would help lead its users toward the metaverse. The hopes were more linked to focusing on AI technology and its associated products.
This means saying hello to all sorts of wearables that would make use of breakthrough technology and produce fashionable designs with great connectivity purposes.
What the tech giant may have forgotten is how the metaverse is actually all VR based while its launch of wearables would be using AR technology. And no matter how much the firm feels both of these technologies are related, one thing is for sure. They cannot be mixed and serve different functions, whether the company likes it or not.
The biggest hope that Meta has related to the world of AR is its AR glasses which are all set for a release in the year 2027. But for it to really acclimatize in the market and reach the next stage, it was just recently seen publishing its latest glasses model called Ray-Ban Stories.
This is a trendy gadget that looks aesthetically pleasing and gives the wearer great functionality in making the right connection. But so far, it’s not been such a huge hit.
A new report by tech outlet The Verge says that more than 90% of the product’s users are no longer interested in making use of this device, ever since they purchased it.
The company’s documents unveiled how close to 27k of its units, out of a staggering 300k were sold between 2021 and 2023. It also mentioned how units were used every month. But in April of this year, Meta sold a staggering 120k Ray Ban Stories which is half of the goal it had outlined.
So out of the massive 300k it sold, just a fraction of those was being used as it had a limited number of features. The latter entails taking images, listening to tracks, answering the phone, and more. And it just failed to catch the vibe linked to a bigger audience.
This is not at all a major surprise. We saw in 2016, the Snap app rolled out its first version of Spectacles. This was the name of a product that came in the form of sunglasses featuring a camera. It’s similar to the Ray-Ban Stories but not a lot of people seemed to be interested.
But the company outlined how there was a hype in sales at the start and that led to the shifting of 150,000 units. But the demand was severely overestimated and so many units weren’t sold and began getting old inside warehouses. Clearly, it was similar to a miscalculated disaster of a whole new kind.
That miscalculation cost the firm a whopping $40 million in terms of losses and it suggested how 300,000 Spectacles weren’t ever sold during that starting phase of production.
As we speak, Snapchat continues to carry on with its sales and they hope to continue sticking to this concept. And that’s even if the firm must start to reevaluate AR-based plans, thanks to a rise in costs and fewer intake for advertisements.
What we can confirm is both companies are dealing with AR glasses that are in their experiential phase and many users are even being given a chance to try them out and provide feedback.
They are far from being launched commercially but it would be interesting to see what comes out after the turmoil of the other products on offer.
Read next: Meta's Melodious Magic: AI Tool AudioCraft Crafts Music from Text Prompts
This means saying hello to all sorts of wearables that would make use of breakthrough technology and produce fashionable designs with great connectivity purposes.
What the tech giant may have forgotten is how the metaverse is actually all VR based while its launch of wearables would be using AR technology. And no matter how much the firm feels both of these technologies are related, one thing is for sure. They cannot be mixed and serve different functions, whether the company likes it or not.
The biggest hope that Meta has related to the world of AR is its AR glasses which are all set for a release in the year 2027. But for it to really acclimatize in the market and reach the next stage, it was just recently seen publishing its latest glasses model called Ray-Ban Stories.
This is a trendy gadget that looks aesthetically pleasing and gives the wearer great functionality in making the right connection. But so far, it’s not been such a huge hit.
A new report by tech outlet The Verge says that more than 90% of the product’s users are no longer interested in making use of this device, ever since they purchased it.
The company’s documents unveiled how close to 27k of its units, out of a staggering 300k were sold between 2021 and 2023. It also mentioned how units were used every month. But in April of this year, Meta sold a staggering 120k Ray Ban Stories which is half of the goal it had outlined.
So out of the massive 300k it sold, just a fraction of those was being used as it had a limited number of features. The latter entails taking images, listening to tracks, answering the phone, and more. And it just failed to catch the vibe linked to a bigger audience.
This is not at all a major surprise. We saw in 2016, the Snap app rolled out its first version of Spectacles. This was the name of a product that came in the form of sunglasses featuring a camera. It’s similar to the Ray-Ban Stories but not a lot of people seemed to be interested.
But the company outlined how there was a hype in sales at the start and that led to the shifting of 150,000 units. But the demand was severely overestimated and so many units weren’t sold and began getting old inside warehouses. Clearly, it was similar to a miscalculated disaster of a whole new kind.
That miscalculation cost the firm a whopping $40 million in terms of losses and it suggested how 300,000 Spectacles weren’t ever sold during that starting phase of production.
As we speak, Snapchat continues to carry on with its sales and they hope to continue sticking to this concept. And that’s even if the firm must start to reevaluate AR-based plans, thanks to a rise in costs and fewer intake for advertisements.
What we can confirm is both companies are dealing with AR glasses that are in their experiential phase and many users are even being given a chance to try them out and provide feedback.
They are far from being launched commercially but it would be interesting to see what comes out after the turmoil of the other products on offer.
Read next: Meta's Melodious Magic: AI Tool AudioCraft Crafts Music from Text Prompts
