Facebook and Ray-Ban Collaborate to Make Smart Glasses Cool in 2021
The smart glasses will be releasing next year
Facebook has joined hands with the maker of Ray-Bans to develop smart glasses that would allow the wearers to use apps to connect with their family and friends. The news of this new partnership was shared by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who shared that his company is partnering up with EssilorLuxottica SA, which is the world’s largest maker of eyewear. The announcement was made during Facebook’s annual conference on new technologies that was held on Wednesday.
This new partnership by Facebook is an attempt to popularize smart glasses which is a tough road to choose. Thew new partners hope to release the first pair of smart glasses sometime next year. This field has seen many flops like Vaunt glasses by Intel Corp and the popular Google Glass project by Alphabet Inc. The latter failed as some people thought it looked geeky and some thought it had privacy concerns.
This move by Facebook comes at a time when rumours say that Apple is developing its own Apple Glass or Apple AR wearable.
Talking about the partnership to create smart glasses, Mark Zuckerberg said: “After spending time with their team and visiting their factory, I knew that they were the right partner for us to help bring the best technology together with the best glasses.”
In addition to Ray-Ban, EssilorLuxottica also owns brands like Persol and Oakley and makes eyewear for brands that vary from Brooks Brothers to Versace.
The physical product that will be created because of this new partnership will be a device that Facebook says “will help us understand how to build the software and hardware necessary for AR glasses.”
The smart glasses that are created by Facebook and EssilorLuxottica SA will let wearers use communication apps. The price and specification details of the product have not been shared yet. They will likely be announced before the launch of the smart glasses.
As technology companies are interested in AR applications and wearable devices, smart glasses are a perfect place to start. Facebook and Apple seem to be aiming for the win in this race.
