Facebook Partners With Ray-Ban

Last week Facebook announced that they have teamed up with EssilorLuxottica to make the world's first set of smart glasses that aren't cringe-worthy. The glasses will be sold through the Ray-Ban brand and the default models resemble the classic Wayfarer frames.

The designers have restrained themselves, offering only basic functionality, a good thing in my opinion. The glasses come with two cameras, to take high-quality photos and videos, and near-ear speakers for listening to music or podcasts, and taking phone calls. Their pricing starts at $299, cheaper than some top of the range Ray-Ban frames.

These glasses will be very reliant on your phone, similar to the first Apple watches. Images and videos captured on the glasses need to be edited and then uploaded on your phone. As technology improves and designers better understand how the glasses will be used, I expect the feature count to rise and the glasses to be more stand-alone. Their biggest flaw at the moment is that they are not waterproof. What good are sunglasses if you can't wear them next to the pool or on the beach? You'll have to avoid getting wet.

Partnering with EssilorLuxottica was a brilliant move from Facebook. The company knows how to make sunglasses, they are very good at marketing and they already have all the distribution networks. They can also make and sell prescription versions. If all goes according to plan, these smart glasses will follow a similar adoption curve to the Apple watch.

You can read Tech Crunch's review of the glasses here - Facebook's Ray-Ban Stories make the case for smart glasses.