During Facebook’s annual AR/VR Conference, named Facebook Connect, on the 16th of September 2020, the company announced a series of innovative products in the field of Augmented Reality. A product that drew the attention of the media was the company’s first attempt to create smart glasses for consumers, in collaboration with EssilorLuxottica, a global eyewear group of brands, including Ray-Ban, Armani, and many more. The first released product will be branded as Ray-Ban and will be available in 2021. This announcement is certainly a promising one in the field of smart glasses. But, what are the smart glasses, and what are their main capabilities?
According to Smart Glasses Hub, “Smart glasses are wearable devices that add useful information and functionalities alongside or to what the wearer would normally gather from the real world.” This wearable is closely related to Augmented Reality (AR) technology. Smart glasses for individuals allow the consumer to communicate (messages, calls), use media (take pictures or videos), navigate, and many more. Yet, is Facebook the first to attempt to create smart glasses?
Google was the first technology giant to experiment with this technology. Google announced Project Glass via its company X Lab in 2012. The company created the “Explorer” prototype and requested feedback from their customers. Google tried many innovations, including unlocking the screen with eye movement, product design differentiation, interaction using hand gestures, and many more. However, Google decided to abandon the smart glasses program for consumers in 2015. The main reasons behind this decision relate to low customer satisfaction due to design and quality aspects. Instead, Google focused on corporate clients with the release of Glass Enterprise Edition in July 2017, aiming at healthcare, manufacturing, and other industries. In July 2020, the company purchased North, a smart glass producer for consumers. Although Google hasn’t made announcements for new smart glass wearables, this strategic acquisition certainly creates prospects for smart consumer glasses made by Google.
Amazon is also operating in the field of smart glasses. Amazon introduced in 2019 Echo Frames, a wearable connected to Alexa, the AI virtual assistant of the company, targeting tech enthusiasts. Echo Frames have a standard Eyeglass design, offer main activities provided by smart glasses, and can be coupled with prescription or sunglasses lenses. A notable characteristic of those glasses is its price, sold at $179.99. This price is considerably low compared to the Google Glass one, which costs approximately $1.500.
Apart from the companies mentioned above, many others are developing smart glasses wearables, including technology giants, such as Snapchat, and startups. Based on the number of competitors, smart glasses usage seems to rise significantly in the following years. Yet, the question remains. Which company will lead the way in this growing market?
Sources:
- https://www.wareable.com/features/the-patented-history-and-future-of-google-glass-656
- https://smartglasseshub.com/what-are-smart-glasses-how-they-work/
- https://www.lifewire.com/what-are-smart-glasses-4171261
- https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/25/20883917/amazon-echo-frames-smart-glasses-preview-hands-on-photos-alexa
- https://about.fb.com/news/2020/09/facebook-connect-introducing-oculus-quest-2-a-partnership-with-essilorluxottica-and-more/
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewwilliams/2020/07/02/why-google-may-have-plans-for-a-new-pair-of-smart-glasses/#4a5384775663
- https://www.technologyreview.com/2014/11/26/169918/google-glass-is-dead-long-live-smart-glasses/
A nice article and quite an interesting development to follow the coming years!
It is quite fascinating that all the monopolistic big tech giants are simultaneously competing to try and be the first to succesfully produce consumer smart glasses. I think it is a certainty that there will be some mainstream succesful smartglasses in the near future, with all those the tech giants competing in a developmental race. The most important thing in the development will be what practical software applications can be developed and implemented for these glasses, and how this will impact our lives. I do think that it is quite possible that smart glasses become just as common as airpods in the public space, and thus it will be fascinating to see which company will be the first to provide a mainstream consumer friendly product.
Hi Bas! Thanks for commenting on my post! I agree with your point. I do believe that the product is still in the early adoption phase and will eventually become mainstream. The main factors which can boost adoption rate are the increasing development of software applications which are compatible with smart glasses as well as product differentiation, e.g. sensors so that the customer can identify a unique added value and buy the product.
Dear Rania,
Smart glasses seems like a very ambitious innovation, however I believe that the technology giants trying to develop them should rather focus on products that could bring higher value to society. In fact, smart glasses could be created to help blind people to be able to orient themselves alone. As such these glasses would be an innovation that could change people’s life. However, I would never be interested in buying glasses that allow me to receive notification or helping me unlocking my phone. I believe we are becoming way to interconnected and dependent to technologies. How will people be able to disconnect from technologies if even their glasses will now be connected to their phones? Privacy issues will also arise, will companies be able to track your eye movement and see what kind of things attracts you most?
Hello Amandine! Thanks for sharing your opinion! I agree with you that technology should be utilized to improve society. Indeed, they are companies developing such solutions for the visually impaired, for instance, Envision. Also, I can understand your skepticism around the use of smart glasses. However, I do believe that tech-savvy people will buy the product once the product offers additional value to them, more specifically, when a significant number of software applications will support smart glasses and product characteristics will improve. Concerning privacy, I believe that it still is and will remain an issue, but many companies are taking initiatives to reduce this concern. For example, Amazon Echo Frames have the functionality to disable the microphone when not in use. Also, they do not have any cameras embedded in the product.
Hey Rania, thank you for sharing this interesting topic. I was actually quite surprised when I read that Google started working on smart glasses in 2012 and now, 8 years later, still no product for the mass-market has been introduced. I do understand that the shift from the B2C to the B2B segment induced a “new chapter” in R&D, but still from one of the most innovative technology companies in the world, I expect a shorter time-to-market. Perhaps Google faced regulatory and legal issues with introducing the product? If you have any more information on why customer satisfaction on the smart glasses was so low or why the development took so long, please share it with us!
Hi Svante! Thanks for commenting on my post! Several reasons do exist regarding the failure of the first smart consumer glasses from Google. Google did not manage to offer a finished and well-designed wearable that provided additional value to the consumers. Thus, customers were not willing to pay for Google glasses that were significantly expensive. Their price was equal to $1.500. Although Google Glasses were not fully developed, Google released early the Google glasses to obtain feedback from the customers. Google also hoped that developers would be excited to develop advanced applications for this wearable. Finally, companies that produced applications compatible with the Google Glasses stopped releasing new applications. For further details, please refer to https://www.technologyreview.com/2014/11/26/169918/google-glass-is-dead-long-live-smart-glasses/.