Ever since the iPhone dented the universe, companies have been eager to leap off that slab of glass like a diving board in search of the next big thing.
From the DroidX (whoa, bigger!) to the Galaxy Note (whoa, stylus!) even to the HTC Facebook Phone (whoa, uh, a Facebook photo launcher homescreen?)—and now a decade+ to the VR frenzy (rather tepid for a frenzy, but sure)—it’s been the goal for so many to be the first to plant a flag in the dirt of the new world. ANY new world.
Apple’s Vision Pro has now been out for a month, and while it arrived hot bursting into the atmosphere, the word on the street has mostly fizzled following a several reports of a mass-returnings of the things.
Now, there are indications that the percentage of returns isn’t as high as the volume of reports might imply—and it’s very possible that there are huge amounts of folks quietly enjoying their Vision Pros at home, but the fact remains that the excitement has mostly gone silent, and silence is death when it comes to crossing the chasm of new technology platforms. It’s going to take some significant new leaps either in capability updates or release of must-have software to re-light that fire, if Apple wants to convert the masses. Where’s the must have app? What’s the must-hear story? What… is the point?
In the meantime, the future is already here. Meta didn’t have a winner with the HTC Facebook phone, but they sure do with these Raybans.
The point is clear. Immediate, ever-present access to a camera, to bluetooth headphones, to an AI assistant, all in a discrete package you could wear to a baseball game, museum, playground, or pool party without receiving a single sneering glare.
I know this because I’ve had the things for a week. And this is clearly the future.
It’s only taken a week for the things to become a part of my daily routines. I throw them on when I go outside to listen to podcasts. I wear them in the house to take calls. I take them to the park or playground to take pictures of kid when he’s doing delightful stuff. I ask it questions when I need answers.
And when I don’t need to do any of those things: they’re just sunglasses.
While VR promises disassociation, the Meta Raybans offer presence. I’m not somewhere else; if anything I’m even more where I am—observing the world, yet knowing that if something wet and wild does whip into view, I’m ready for it.
I caught my 3 1/2-year old boy getting a lil kiss on the cheek at the playground from a 3 1/2-year old girl crushing on him, a moment I never would have been able to pull my phone out in time to capture. That’s all I’ve ever wanted as a parent. That’s all I’ve ever wanted from ambient technology.
It was a nice sunny day in NYC the other day, and I decided to go for a jog. I thought about wearing the Meta Raybans for the run but decided against it—being high tech and somewhat expensive, I didn’t want them to get sweaty, damaged, or lost.
I wore my regular sunglasses instead, probably a good move. But while jogging along the East River and catching an interesting sight, I reached up to hit the Photo Capture button… on my dumb glasses.
About a week into my Meta Rayban experience, I’ve already become so accustomed to their purpose that they’ve entered into my library of involuntary habits.
That’s how I know these things are going to work. They have an actual purpose, they accomplish that purpose gracefully and discretely, and they’re so simple to use that it quickly becomes second nature.
They do the job they were hired to do.
Not even Apple knows what job the Vision Pro is being hired to do. That’s why consumers are firing it. “What would you say you do here?” the early adopters are asking.
The Meta Raybans know the answer.
And they’re going to keep growing their skillset until they take over the company.
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