Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg demonstrates Orion AR glasses during a keynote speech at the Meta Connect annual event held at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on September 25, 2024.
Manuel Orbergozo | Reuters
When Facebook changed its name Yuan In October 2021, CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the opportunity to show the world his vision for a digital future for work and entertainment through virtual reality headsets. The company soon opened up game worlds called Horizon Worlds, featuring floating, personalized avatars.
As the Meta rebrand approaches its third anniversary, none of this stuff has hit the mainstream yet.
But the company appears to be establishing a foothold in virtual and augmented reality through different mediums.
After finding surprising early success in the smart glasses market through its partnership with Ray-Ban, Meta is building excitement for a prototype of more advanced glasses called Orion, a project that has been in the works for nearly a decade. . Zuckerberg’s announcement of Orion late last month sparked a level of enthusiasm not often seen in virtual universes.
The winning demo at Meta’s annual Connect event was a relief to many employees and represented a shift in sentiment within the company about Zuckerberg’s expensive hardware ambitions, according to people familiar with the company. Quan spoke on condition of anonymity.
At the beginning of the demonstration, Zuckerberg took the device out of a locked metal briefcase. He showed off the gadget—a pair of black, thick-framed AR glasses—to the audience, then placed it on his face. Orion features a wireless puck that runs holographic virtual images on top of what the user sees in real life. It also relies on the wristband to pick up neural signals from users, allowing them to control the device.
The presentation is seamless. The crowd oohed and aahed. A handful of testers gave the product positive reviews. CNBC’s Julia Boorstin described a call she had with a producer, saying, “It was like me and him on FaceTime, but he was in my glasses.” Alex from The Verge Heath versus Zuckerberg in a table tennis match wrote He “noticed almost no lag in the game.”
“The right way to look at Orion is as a time machine,” Zuckerberg said on Connect. “These glasses exist, they’re awesome, they allow us to see into the future, and I think it’s going to be very fascinating. People are excited.”
Following the Orion demo, Meta is preparing to strengthen relationships with software developers, work to build a consumer version of the device, and launch the current generation of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses to more consumers during the 2024 holiday shopping season.
The company is also exploring how the technology developed for the Orion wristband could be applied to other consumer devices, specifically the Quest VR headset and Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, according to people familiar with the matter.
For Meta, excitement among employees and users rose shortly after Wall Street bought the stock again. Meta shares nearly tripled last year and are set to rise in 2024 after the company lost nearly two-thirds of its value in 2022 and then cut about a quarter of its workforce, or 21,000 jobs. increased by more than 60%, hitting a new high this month.
Meta proved the resilience of its dominant online advertising business, then rebuilt the underlying technology Apple’s iOS privacy changes make it harder to target users, and the addition of generative AI tools makes it easier for brands to run marketing campaigns.
But proving it can mimic the success of its digital advertising in completely different markets has been an ongoing challenge.
Facebook first entered the VR field in 2014, spending $2 billion Buy Oculus. Since then, the company has poured more than $63 billion into what is now Reality Labs, its AR and VR hardware and software division, and is posting billions of dollars in operating losses every quarter.
In the second quarter, Reality Labs’ revenue was only $353 million, accounting for less than 1% of the company’s total sales. Global shipments of VR and AR headsets in the industry during the same period sink According to market research firm IDC, sales fell about 28% from the same period last year to 1.1 million units.
“This is a very long-term bet,” Zuckerberg said in July 2023. .
People familiar with Reality Labs told CNBC that Orion provides a concrete example of the company’s strategy and a logical and compelling next step after smart glasses.
Mehta declined to comment.
A project 10 years in the making
Meta plans to start attracting developers next year to try to get them excited about building apps for Orion so the company can learn what content might resonate with consumers, according to people familiar with the company’s roadmap.
Entering the developer community coincides with Meta’s expected launch of its fourth generation product Llama artificial intelligence model series. By releasing a more powerful version of Llama, Meta hopes developers will integrate the software into future AR apps to help with tasks such as identifying real-world objects and responding to voice commands more accurately, people familiar with the matter said.
Eventually, Meta is working to build a consumer version of Orion, which could happen within two years, they said.
Considering how long it took Orion to get to this point, that timeline may be too ambitious.
Facebook began developing the device as early as 2016 under the leadership of Oculus’ then-chief scientist. Michael AbrashAccording to people familiar with the matter. Abrash is now the chief scientist at Reality Labs.
Meta employee Sara Nicholson poses wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses at the annual Meta Connect event held at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, the United States, on September 24, 2024.
Manuel Orbergozo | Reuters
In 2018, the project exited development and embarked on a product path under the guidance of Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, then head of hardware at Facebook and now head of technology at Meta.
At one point, the company had a version of the device that offered AR visual effects, but it had to operate in an extremely controlled environment, people familiar with the matter said. For example, they say, visual effects don’t work outdoors.
Meta has been testing functional versions of the Orion glasses for more than two years, people familiar with the matter said, allowing the product to finally be shown to a wider range of companies and outsiders. The company completed the prototype in March. Sources say engineers put a lot of effort into making the device weigh less than 100 grams (3.5 ounces), about twice the weight of a pair of heavy glasses, and have a 70-degree field of view.
Zuckerberg, a driving force behind the company’s advancements in AR and VR, made the final decision to go public with Orion, people familiar with the matter said.
Built on unexpected success
It may be several years before Meta can launch a consumer version of Orion, and many challenges will need to be overcome to achieve mass production.
“One may criticize Orion for being vapor software,” Argus Research analyst Joseph Bonner wrote in an Oct. 4 note to clients, referring to ” Technology that may not end up in actual products.” Bonner recommends buying the stock, saying the product demonstrates “Meta’s continued commitment to virtual and mixed reality applications.”
Meta needed to develop a global manufacturing supply chain to account for some of the rare materials used in the device. One particular hurdle was figuring out how to obtain large quantities of silicon carbide, which is used in the display for the Orion lens.
Meta recently hired personnel from semiconductor contract manufacturing companies GlobalFoundries People familiar with the matter said that in order to assist in the development and supervision of the supply chain of Orion and related AR and VR equipment.
Meta, meanwhile, is looking to build on the success of its second-generation Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
Published in partnership with Essilor Luxottica In September last year, the product received a number of upgrades, including better camera quality, longer battery life and AI voice assistant.
The smart glasses went viral on TikTok during the holiday shopping season, with sales exceeding both companies’ expectations. According to IDC, more than 730,000 units have been sold in the first three quarters since launch. Zuckerberg told investors in July that they “got hit earlier than expected.”
Last month, Meta and Luxottica agreed to extend their partnership and plan to launch a larger, third-generation version of the glasses for the upcoming holiday season. The new device is expected to feature a small display in one lens, people familiar with the matter said.
Luxottica representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Meta is still open Pop-up store Demonstrate smart glasses and make them available to more consumers.
The pop-up store will be located in a retail space in Los Angeles. one job position BDS Connected Solutions said it is looking for retail employees near West Hollywood.
“We are gearing up for the ultimate Meta pop-up experience in downtown Los Angeles,” BDS said in a statement. Post on X. “With Lowrider, street vibes and everything iconic about Los Angeles, this pop-up is a true celebration of Southern California culture.”
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