Meta and the Battle for Smart Glasses | Google's Return
6/11/202645 min
Back in 2014, Google Glass made the dream of smart glasses a reality for the tech-obsessed. But a hefty price tag and divisive design prevented Google from bringing its vision to the masses. A decade later, Meta seemingly cracked the code, offering affordable, fashion-forward smart specs in frames by established brands like Ray-Ban and Oakley. WIRED senior gear editor Julian Chokkattu and staff writer Boone Ashworth join David to discuss whether Google’s new Android XR platform, which the company debuted in May, can give Meta a run for its money. They’ll also discuss some of the thorny ethical issu...
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First 90 secondsDavid Brown· Host0:00
Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Business Wars ad free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. [dramatic music] From Audible Originals, I'm David Brown, and this is Business Wars. Back in 2014, Google Glass, Google's foray into the smart glasses space, fell flat with consumers and failed to gain a hold in the marketplace. Not only that, the high-tech frames also inadvertently created controversy. Remember the Glasshole backlash? A decade later, Meta changed the narrative, introducing a streamlined fashion-forward approach, partnering with brands like Ray-Ban and Oakley to make less ostentatious smart specs. With millions of pairs now sold, the results are hard to deny. But now Google is back in the game, hoping to give Meta a dose of healthy competition with its new Android XR smart glasses, which the company just previewed at Google I/O in May. But as smart glasses become more mainstream and get even smarter with advances in artificial intelligence, more people are raising concerns about privacy, data sharing,