Meta fails to exceed the expectations of Ray-Ban Stories owners after the launch of the smart glasses. According to the company, less than 10% of consumers have already abandoned using this wearable technology.
An early report released by The Wall Street Journal says that an internal memo reveals a surprising detail about the sold units since their debut.
Meta Sees Low Usage in Ray-Ban Stories
Between September 2021 and February 2023, Meta only managed to sell 27,000 units of Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses. Initially, the company expected to sell 300,000 units, but it only failed to do so.
Even the April record did not appear to be good for Meta. Back then, it only sold 120,000 pairs of the smart wearable. It did not even reach half of its target goal of 300,000 units.
With that being said, just less than 10% of consumers have been regularly using Ray-Ban Stories, per Engadget.
The internal memo suggests that Facebook's parent firm is currently investigating the reason why users suddenly abandoned its Ray-Ban Stories. Because of this, Meta wants to address the matter by encouraging them to test out the new features of the smart glasses.
Furthermore, the document also includes a bold prediction that 394,000 units of the sunglasses will be sold all throughout its lifetime. However, another report points out that the original target is about 478,000 in sales.
Failure to Retain Ray-Ban Users is a Huge Blow to Meta
As per a story by The Verge, its unimpressive move to retain consumers who use Ray-Ban Stories is beyond the company's control, making it a huge blow for the Facebook maker.
With several projects related to virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) developments, Meta needs to step up to live up to this opportunity. However, with Ray-Ban stories falling off in an instant, the company executives foresee exponential losses piling up by 2024.
Related Article: Ray-Ban Stories New Update Adds 'Spotify Tap' and More
Meta Will Still Release 2nd-Gen Ray-Ban Stories Despite Poor Performance
Despite the poor performance that Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses got, Meta still wants to pursue releasing the second-gen version of these.
Meta touts that the upcoming wearable will boast a longer battery life and revamped cameras. It is expected to be launched in 2024.
As of writing, the company has not yet announced if its price will be closer to $299, the price of the first-gen wearable.
In other news, X Blue, the new Twitter rebrand, now allows users to hide the verification checkmarks on a person's profile.
In case you want to do this, you just need to go to your Profile and search for "Profile Customization." From here, you can now find the option to hide it especially if you're ashamed that others will see it.
Read Also: Meta CTO Says AI-Powered Ad Creation Tools Will be Shipped Later this Year
