by Colin Kirkland
Source: www.mediapost.com, July 2024
After restructuring its Reality Labs division, integrating integrating multimodal artificial intelligence to its line of Ray-Ban Smart Glasses, and attempting to buy 5% of Ray-Ban owner EssilorLuxottica, Meta is facing competition from Google.
According to reports from The Verge, Google has approached EssilorLuxottica about integrating its Gemini AI into future smart glasses.
Last week, The Financial Times and other news outlets reported on talks between Meta and EssilorLuxottica regarding the tech giant’s plan to buy about 5% of the $96 billion eyewear company, which it has worked with on the previous two generations of Ray-Ban smart glasses.
According to the reports, Meta’s negotiations are at an advanced stage.
A potential deal would be coming at a time when Meta’s virtual Ray-Ban investments have a clear path forward, with Meta prioritizing the smart glasses through creation of a dedicated “Wearables” department that is separate from the teams focused on its metaverse gaming and hardware products.
The decision was made with consideration of increased smart-glasses sales, the company said.
To help ease investor concerns over the billions of dollars being lost to Reality Labs, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made it clear that the company’s AI focus will connect directly to its long-term metaverse strategy. “By the end of the decade,” he said, “I think lots of people will talk to AIs frequently throughout the day using smart glasses like what we are building with Ray-Ban Meta.”
And last month, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said the glasses were “a much bigger hit than we anticipated,” adding that the company is “doubling down on finding a strong product market fit for wearable Meta AI, building a business around it, and expanding the audience.”
Google, however, has also approached EssilorLuxottica about forging a deal around Ray-Ban. The Alphabet-owned company is talking to the eyewear company about integrating its Gemini AI assistant in future smart glasses, The Verge reports.
“This move to potentially box Meta out of the high-profile partnership could be helping drive the large investment Mark Zuckerberg is now preparing to make,” The Verge’s Alex Heath writes, adding that EssilorLuxottica’s overall underperformance compared to its peer group of European blue-chip stocks may be another reason for the company to side with Google over Meta.
Despite Zuckerberg’s large investment offer, EssilorLuxottica technically has an advantage. Depending on its decision, consumers may see the further development and release of a new Ray-Ban smart-glasses generation infused with Meta’s AI, Google’s Gemini AI, or potentially, both.
