Facebook announced back in September 2020 that it would be teaming up with EssilorLuxottica, famed maker of Ray-Ban glasses, to create a pair of “smart glasses”.That was about all that was said back then, but on a recent earnings call (handily transcribed by Seeking Alpha) Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the very next Facebook-branded hardware launch would be that very pair of glasses.
Facebook’s sights are set on specs
“Looking ahead here, the next product release will be the launch of our first smart glasses from Ray-Ban in partnership with EssilorLuxottica,” said Zuckerburg. “The glasses have their iconic form factor, and they let you do some pretty neat things. So I’m excited to get these in people’s hands and to continue to make progress on the journey towards full augmented reality glasses in the future.”
And that’s… still just about all we know, unfortunately. Facebook has yet to release anything regarding the specs’ specs, or really anything that they can do. We do know that they won’t feature an integrated display, which only makes us more intrigued as to how they’ll operate and what they’ll do.
They do fall in line with Zuck’s vision for a Facebook ‘metaverse’, with products spanning across a plethora of platforms and hardware, though as more of a precursor than a firm step towards an integrated internet future. The wording, “…continue to make progress…”, seems to indicate that these glasses will be used as a starting point or test run for Mark’s metaverse.
That’s about it so far. To be completely honest, we’re not totally down with having Facebook serve ads directly into our eyes just yet. And with the way Facebook’s foray into VR-based ads is going, we think most folks would share our opinion.