Remember when the company once called Facebook attempt to convince the world to spend$300 on a pair of camera - fit Ray - Banscapable of snapping photos of people while they were n’t look ? Neither did we , really , but that has n’t check Meta from move forward with a pricey multi - year plan to wander out fresh generation of the machine . The only trouble : nobody seems to want them .
Meta document cited in arecent Wall Street Journal storyshow that just 10 % of customers who purchased Ray Ban Stories still actively use them . The company has reportedly sold 300,000 pairs of the shades as of this February but only record around 27,000 monthly dynamic exploiter . Around 13 % of those customers reportedly returned their devices , too .
Per the Journal , the written document spotlight some of the most common reason cited for poor substance abuser experience , which let in battery life issues , connectivity problems , trouble spell media , poor levelheaded quality on podcasts , and buggy vocalization control .
Photo: Meta
“ We ’ll also need to better understand why users bar using their glasses , how to assure we are encouraging Modern feature adoption , and ultimately how to keep our users engaged and hold back , ” the written document reads , according to The Journal .
In theory , the undercover agent chicken feed are supposed to let users snarl photos and video with an equipped 5 - megapixel lens embedded in the frames and listen to audio or take call via a tiny pair of speakers . Meta partnered with EssilorLuxottica to design the glasses to appear almost indistinguishable from Ray Bans one might see cover in sand at the beach or bobbing up and down festival gang . To slake privacy concerns , a faint-hearted white brightness level come out on the top corner of the equipment to indicate they are register television . You could justcover that up with a patch of tape , but a Meta product manager once said that would outrage the glasses ’ terms of service . Meta refuse to comment .
Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth , who led Ray Ban Stories development , previously told The Vergethe first manakin was signify to “ rest the basis in the minds of consumers , ” for future Cartesian product in the same mineral vein . The papers suggest Meta is moving forward with that plan in spite of the pathetic use stats and mean to give up a 2nd edition either in the fall or next spring . All of this in line of reasoning with Meta’sgrand visionof make “ the next era of human - computer fundamental interaction , ” brim with augmented reality - equip glass , habiliment , and even sci - fi neural inputs .
For now though , Ray Ban Stories are just comparatively expensive hunk of credit card capable of taking pretty crappy photos . And anyone hoping Metai may have image out how to add AR to glasses without burning users ’ eyeballs will be painfully disappointed . The next version , agree to the papers cited by the Journal , wo n’t have notable AR feature . Still , Meta ’s CTO believes it ’s just a matter of time before the machine catch on .
“ I retrieve in 10 years it ’ll be like , ‘ Of of course . Why do n’t your trash take pictures ? That ’s just weird , ’ ” Bosworthpreviously said on his podcast . “ It really has that opportunity to reverse the corner on that and move thing forward . ”
Meta is burning through money to make its imagination a reality . Reality Labs , the division responsible for for creating the devices and other metaverse adjacent intersection , has account an operating going of nearly $ 8 billion in the first half of 2023 . The division hasreportedly lose $ 21 billionsince the beginning of 2022 . In that time , the company haslaid off around 21,000 peopleand show in a “ year of efficiency . ” That ’s a whole lot of cash and living disrupted for 10 % of customers using a machine .
To Meta ’s credit , the company used a similar manoeuvre of selling its early Quest headset at a substantial loss in club to grow interestingness in the market . In that case , the strategy work . Meta emerged as the undisputed VR world-beater . Interest in VR forgamingandfitnessis gamy than ever and discipline repeatedly showMeta absolutely dominating overall marketplace percentage . So , in the immortal words of Field of Dreams , “ if you build it , [ they ] will do . ”
With dark glasses , Mark Zuckerberg faces more challenges . Snap has its own AR - enabled chunky glasses , as do a smattering of other competitors . Apple , which of late released its much anticipated ski - goggle - sizedApple Vision Promixed - reality goggles has n’t publicly sound out it ’s exercise on littler glasses but hasfiled patents hinting at it . So , it come out the industriousness eventually will bestow more of these equipment to market whether users really require them or not .
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