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Amazon is working on building a pair of smart glasses to house its Alexa voice assistant, and a home security camera that could be linked to its existing Echo connected devices to further expand their capabilities, according to a report in the FT citing people familiar with the company's plans.
The newspaper says one or both of these products could be launched before the end of the year, alongside updates to existing Echo devices.
An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment, saying company policy is not to comment on rumors or speculation.
According to the FT, the smart glasses are intended to be purely an earbuds-free housing for Amazon's Alexa AI — with a bone-conduction audio system that would enable the wearer to hear Alexa without the need to be wired in.
With no mobile platform of its own to build on, Amazon has a strategic disadvantage vs Google and Apple because it cannot bake its voice AI into smartphone hardware where millions of engaged users could easily summon it — hence the company working on a plethora of alternative connected devices to try to put Alexa within earshot anyway.
The idea for the glasses, which would be its first wearable, would be to do just that: Enable Alexa to be summoned from anywhere, vs the current situation where users are barking commands at static in-home speakers.
The FT reports the glasses would wirelessly tether to a user's smartphone for connectivity. They are also apparently being designed to look like a regular pair of spectacles, so they could be worn comfortably and unobtrusively.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/20/amazon-is-working-on-smart-glasses-to-house-alexa-ai-says-ft/
Also at Reuters and USA Today.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by nobu_the_bard on Wednesday September 20 2017, @05:23PM (8 children)
I'd rather they just break into the eyeglasses market and put a dent in Luxottica's stranglehold. That's one market that'd really benefit from their disrupting it, and they'd make some sick crazy money.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by frojack on Wednesday September 20 2017, @06:01PM (5 children)
Amazing that I've worn eyeglasses since the 5th grade and never heard of this Luxottica which you love to loath.
Everybody from America's Best to Walmart is in the eyeglasses market.
Now it seems everyone wants to put a camera and a microphone in my home 24/7.
And its amazing how many millennial-tards are just fine with that.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 20 2017, @06:16PM (2 children)
Me either
They own everyone's mall favorite LensCrafters
http://www.luxottica.com/en/retail-brands [luxottica.com]
(Score: 4, Informative) by nobu_the_bard on Wednesday September 20 2017, @06:35PM
They also own the majority of eyeglass brands sold in stores in the US, whether or not they own the actual chain. They don't like to advertise they're nearly a monopoly.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @12:49AM
Numerous designer brands are also them: http://www.luxottica.com/en/eyewear-brands [luxottica.com]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 21 2017, @01:14AM
There is a huge proportion of the tail end Gen-X as well as the boomer generation buying into all that shit.
Hell, my parents get a kick out of swinging their cell phones at me because 'you're just a privacy kook, and the government won't ever spy on you through everybody's cell phones.' It's no longer a slippery slope towards big brother: IT's a straight up fucking slip'n'slide. Better hope you stop before those cactus' just past the end of the slide :)
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday September 21 2017, @01:17AM
You've never encountered Ray-Ban? Or Oakley?
Did you thing Ray-Ban glasses were made by Ray-Ban Corp?
Do you think Froot-Loops are made by Fruit-loops Corp?
I dare you to name one trendy brand of eyewear which isn't Luxottica or De Rigo (who you will probably be more likely to recognise if I call them "Derp Police Derp Corp".
> And its amazing how many millennial-tards are just fine with that.
All well and good being patronising about the youngsters, but you seem to be the one who's naive about big businesses and brands big enough to use monopolistic business practices in order to become even larger.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by edIII on Wednesday September 20 2017, @07:17PM (1 child)
It's a fucking gig, like hearing aids still need to cost 5k per pair, except much, much, much, much worse. There is no way on God's green Earth, that a pair of glasses can cost over $100. Add another $100 for detachable UV-polarized-whatever shades with it. How do FRAMES all of the sudden start costing thousands of percent markup? It's as if the fashion industry took over it completely, and everybody has to wear what a fucking Kardashian is pimpin' that season. Except without the same amount of money to buy it.
Amazon isn't going to disrupt that market anytime soon I think, because it already is a disrupted market. You can choose to dick with insurance paying you back some money, and still getting stuck with the lion's share of the bill for hundreds in charges, or you can order online from Hong Kong.
I picked up over $800 worth of glasses, shade attachments, and cleaning materials for ~$78 including shipping by uploading my prescription and buying from a business in Hong Kong. Ridiculously shameful the level of engineered inefficiency in some markets.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by sbgen on Wednesday September 20 2017, @08:48PM
Which business is that, any links?
Warning: Not a computer expert, but got to use it. Yes, my kind does exist.