CES is full of Meta Ray-Ban knockoffs
Meta's wearables chief on copycats at CES and underestimating demand for the display glasses.
It’s Wednesday, Jan 7th. I’m on my last full day at CES. Whew.
3 things you should know:
Google just became the second-most-valuable company in the world, surpassing Apple.
ChatGPT's new Health mode is going to be a big hit.
AMC is making a new show about Silicon Valley, starring Sarah Goldberg, Zach Galifianakis, Simon Helberg, and Rob Corddry.
Mentioned in this issue: Alex Himel, Jensen Huang, Fidji Simo, Larry Page, Sergey Brin
“We’re selling them as fast as we make them”
CES is always a magnet for copycats.
This year, Alex Himel, Meta’s VP of wearables, saw a bunch of startups that looked eerily similar to the Meta RayBan Display glasses he was wearing.
“As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” Himel said during a taping for ACCESS with my co-host Ellis Hamburger and me earlier today. “I don’t think they look as good, they don’t perform as well, but there are a lot of products.”
Ellis and I tried a few of the copycats on the show floor yesterday. One booth promised live translation via a pair of display glasses. The result was little green laser text floating somewhere in the periphery, Matrix-style. The translation did not work, and the person manning the booth didn’t seem to care. Meanwhile, Meta just announced teleprompter and EMG handwriting features for its display glasses. The handwriting feature can type about 30 words per minute.
As for those reports about Meta pausing the international rollout of the new display glasses?
