More Ray-Ban Smart Glasses are coming: Meta & EssilorLuxottica extend partnership
EssilorLuxottica and Meta have entered into a long-term agreement to develop smart eyewear products over the next ten years.
Ray-Ban brand owner EssilorLuxottica and Meta Platforms have extended their partnership, which began in 2019, with a new long-term agreement. The aim is to jointly develop "cross-generational smart eyewear products" over the next ten years.
Francesco Milleri, Chairman and CEO of EssilorLuxottica, explains: "The incredible work we’ve done with Meta, still in its early stages, has already proven to be an important milestone in our journey to making glasses the gateway to the connected world. We look forward to continuing to chart the future of the category together"
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta, adds: "We have the opportunity to turn glasses into the next major technology platform, and make it fashionable in the process."
Partnership has already produced two generations of smart glasses
The collaboration between the two companies has already produced two generations of Ray-Ban smart glasses, the Ray-Ban Stories and the Meta | Ray-Ban Smartglasses. The latest generation of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses can make calls, take photos and videos up to three minutes long and share them directly on Instagram.
Live-streaming is also possible, and music streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Prime Music are also supported. Meta AI is also integrated, but only available in the US and Canada.
Growing interest in EssilorLuxottica
According to the Wall Street Journal and Verge reporter Alex Heath, Meta is considering buying a 5 percent stake in EssilorLuxottica for about $4.5 billion. Negotiations are well advanced and it is likely that Meta will make the investment. It is not yet known if the announced partnership includes an investment by Meta in EssilorLuxottica.
Meta is not the only technology company courting EssilorLuxottica. Google has also expressed interest in working with the company to integrate its Gemini AI technology into smart glasses. Meta's latest move may be in response to Google's overtures.
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