The phrase "pervert glasses" is not, as a rule, what any consumer electronics company hopes to see attached to its flagship wearable device. And yet that is precisely the epithet that has dogged Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses since their debut in 2023, a product that managed to unite British pub chains, nuclear submarine bases, and Comic-Con in common cause against it.
On Thursday, Meta unveiled what might be called a strategic retreat dressed as a product extension: the Ray-Ban Meta Audio, a version of the glasses that lacks the camera that caused all the fuss in the first place. The new model retains the ability to make phone calls and play music directly into the wearer's ears, but dispenses with the feature that prompted JD Wetherspoon to post warning signs and caused strangers to consider, however briefly, knocking the things off people's heads.
Meta, which is part of the empire built by Mark Zuckerberg, says the camera-free version has been in development for two years and was not rushed out in response to public concern. (The timing, one supposes, is purely coincidental.) The company notes that the new glasses are lighter, cheaper, and have better battery life than their camera-equipped siblings.
When a reporter suggested to Ankit Brahmbhatt, the head of product for Meta Glasses, that the audio-only version might outsell the original, there was what the British call a pregnant pause.
"We have, I think, something for everyone," Mr. Brahmbhatt said, selecting each word as if it were being weighed on a jeweler's scale.
Whether the new glasses represent the future of the category or merely a concession to the present remains unclear. What is clear is that Meta has discovered something that Madison Avenue learned long ago: sometimes the best way forward is to remove the part that people find objectionable and hope they forget it was ever there.
Original story published in bbc.com: "They were labelled 'pervert glasses'. Will Meta's camera-free version change their image?"