ARTICLE
17 January 2025

Is People Friendly The Way To Un(Ray)Ban The Metaverse?

MC
Marks & Clerk

Contributor

Marks & Clerk is one of the UK’s foremost firms of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys. Our attorneys and solicitors are wired directly into the UK’s leading business and innovation economies. Alongside this we have offices in 9 international locations covering the EU, Canada and Asia, meaning we offer clients the best possible service locally, nationally and internationally.
Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, praised for their discrete, consumer-friendly design, highlight the growing appeal of lightweight XR devices. Their success emphasizes the importance of combining technology, engaging content, and user-friendly design for mainstream adoption of XR technologies.
United Kingdom Technology

I was interested to read this article on the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses. After years of complex and bulky AR headsets, these have apparently been a somewhat surprise hit with consumers. The glasses look not far removed from a normal pair of fashion sunglasses but have been enhanced with smart features such as a camera for taking pictures, speakers for listening to music and a microphone for issuing voice commands. However, consumers seem to have reacted favourably, with the discrete tech proving popular, whilst many have shunned traditional bulky, obtrusive XR (extended reality) headsets.

This reminded me of a question I was asked whilst delivering a talk on IP for Technologies Behind the Metaverse based on our IP for XR Report at the 7th International XR Conference, where an audience member commented that the advancements in XR technology highlighted by the exponentially growing patent activity in this sector were good, but what role would content and human factors have in the mainstream adoption of the metaverse?

I thought that this was an excellent question, and echoed my own view that mainstream adoption of XR technologies will be achieved by a mix of technology advancements, the availability of wide-ranging and appealing content and finding a way to make it all more people-friendly. This seems to fit with the success of the Ray-Ban Meta sunglasses, that more than make up in style and usability what they lack in functionality in a way that's really chimed with consumers.

It seems that Meta are keen to move these glasses onto the next level by incorporating a display, whilst several rivals also look to join the party. It will be interesting to see if the next iteration of our XR report reflects these developments as innovators and content creators in the XR space look to secure the IP and protect the value, insight and investment in their creations.

"These lightweight glasses, even without a display, could be interesting and useful"

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