Facebook, Ray-Ban Rolls-out Smart Glasses Called Ray-Ban Stories

In the nearly a decade since, many tech companies including Amazon, Bose, and Snap have tried to truly popularize the idea of smart eyewear but have all missed the spot. But Thursday, Facebook Inc. became the latest to offer an attempt for public consumption: the long-awaited smart glasses called Ray-Ban Stories, in partnership with Ray-Ban (the brand is owned by eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica), entering a nascent wearables market with a focus on capturing photos rather than augmented reality.

Facebook hopes they’ll be worn to take pictures and short videos, listen to music, and make phone calls, by anyone 13 or older. The glasses, which Facebook had teased in the past, start at $299 and come in three styles, including the iconic Ray-Ban Wayfarer, and five hues (all the colors, including blue and green, are on the darker end of the spectrum). Initially, they’re being sold at some Ray-Ban stores and at Ray-Ban.com, and are available to buyers in six countries, including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

By looking, for the most part, not just like a normal pair of glasses, but like a classic, popular style, Ray-Ban Stories solves one of the biggest issues facing Google Glass and many other chunky, funky smart glasses of the past. The electronics are so well hidden that there are just a few hints that something is different about these specs: there’s a camera embedded in the edge of each side of the frame, for instance. But on a pair of shiny Wayfarers they seem to melt into the frame itself.

Hind Hobeika, a product manager for augmented-reality devices at Facebook Reality Labs, commented that Ray-Ban Stories are “the first smart glasses that people will want to wear.” But Facebook and Ray-Ban may not fully appreciate the enormous challenge that remains in convincing people to buy and use such a wearable device, particularly when its capabilities seem more neat than essential.