But Big Tech is looking for another smartphone moment, and it’s not likely to happen.
Meta’s Orion glasses are AR (augmented reality) done the way we always imagined it.
The problem is they’re trying to replace phones, and nobody but Meta wants that to happen.
They’re dorky but they’re also pretty impressive.Meta
They also don’t have a battery pack snaking to a belt clip or pocket.
This keeps the bulk, and presumably the heat, off the face.
The glasses also have cameras to scan and understand the world around you.
Why not wear some Facebook cameras on your face?.Meta
Tech pundit and Facebook fan Ben Thompson tried Meta’s and was impressed.
“What was the most striking to me, however, is that the obvious limitationsparticularly low resolutionfelt immaterial.
In short, they’re the AR glasses we always imagined, only not quite perfected yet.
The wristband and the pocket puck.Meta
But nobody is going to buy them.
The Pocket Computer Anomoly
It’s the 1990s.
The smartphone is a historical anomaly.
“With smartphones, people already understood mobile phones and personal computers.
This may well have been a one-off glitch in the market.
But what do they offer?
Nothing more than your phone, and quite a bit less.
An AR video call isn’t better than a regular Zoom or FaceTime, it’s just different.
Typing messages is harder.
And you have to wear them on your face the whole time.
Now, there’s definitely a place for AR glasses, and that’s as a professional tool.
Google Glass got this right years ago, as does theMagic Leap 2right now.
The only person who really wants mass-market AR glasses to happen is Zuck.
Facebook also wants to track you much more deeply than Apple will allow.
Meta lost the smartphone race, which is why it’s betting so much on AR.
No thanks, Meta.
