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Looking at the role smartphones play in our daily lives at this point, is might seem a farfetched idea that we will be able to live without them three years from now. But Facebook is betting on their newest gadget to do the trick. Under codename ‘Orion’, they are partnering with Ray-Ban parent company Luxottica to develop a set of augmented reality glasses (Rodriguez, 2019).

But wait, smart glasses are not new on the market

We all remember the Google Glass debacle from 2012. And while they are launching a new version for business use this year, we probably still prefer our Ray Bans over the ugly technology infused glasses brought out by Google seven years ago (Bright, 2019; Doyle, 2016). Facebook has been working on similar products for years already too. Hundreds of engineers at Oculus and Facebook Reality Labs have been building AR/VR software as well as hardware, but no products have made it to consumers yet (Duffy, 2019).

So why does Facebook think this product will be different? It might be because there are two main reasons the Orion glasses will differ from previously failed alternatives.

It’s all about the looks

Whilst the idea of a smart device in your glasses was attractive, the google glass was absolutely aesthetically unappealing (Doyle, 2016). With Luxottica, Facebook has a perfect partner. They are not just the parent company of Ray-Ban, Oakley and some other sunglasses brands, they have some experience with this technology having (unsuccessfully) partnered with Google for their glasses before (Duffy, 2019).

But it’s even more about the purpose

Let’s be fair, even if they look like your favourite Aviator glasses, you would never spend a significant amount of money on something that doesn’t add value. This was probably the main problem with Google Glass, it had no clear function and did not satisfy any existing demand (Doyle, 2016). Facebooks Orion glasses however are being tailored to replace your smartphone and will be able to stake calls, show information through the display, and support live streaming. All within an intelligent voice assistant interface (Duffy, 2019).

They’re not here yet

Facebook still has a long road ahead though. The voice assistant is not finished yet and the AR and VR (or even click-by-brain) technologies are not ready to be implemented in a small and desirable device (Duffy, 2019). So while there is no guarantee the project will even ever reach consumers, Marc Zuckerberg seems have a strong interest in the glasses. And who knows, maybe his eagerness to launch this ambitious piece of smart hardware will give Facebook the advantage over Apple, Snapchat and other competitors working on their own AR glasses (Rodriguez, 2019).

But when Facebook or another company will succeed, would you wear them? And do you think they will succeed in replacing your smartphone entirely?

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References

Bright (2019). Google ziet toekomst in AR-bril: Google Glass 2 aangekondigd. Accessed on October 7^th via https://www.bright.nl/nieuws/artikel/4719196/google-ziet-toekomst-bril-en-kondigt-google-glass-2-aan

Doyle, B. (2016). 5 Reasons Why Google Glass was a Miserable Failure. Business 2 Community. Accessed on October 7^th via https://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/5-reasons-google-glass-miserable-failure-01462398

Duffy, R. (2019). Facebook and Luxottica Are Developing Augmented Reality Ray-Bans. Morning Brew. Accessed on October 6^th via https://www.morningbrew.com/emerging-tech/stories/2019/09/18/facebook-luxottica-developing-augmented-reality-raybans

Rodriguez, S. (2019). Facebook working on smart glasses with Ray-Ban, code-named ‘Orion’. Retrieved 8 October 2019, from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/17/facebook-enlists-ray-ban-maker-luxottica-to-make-orion-ar-glasses.html

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Francis Scialabba via Emerging Tech Brew newsletter