Hard times seem to keep rolling for manufacturers of augmented reality glasses. North, the Canadian startup behind consumer-focused Focals by North smart glasses, is in the final stages of a $ 180 million sale to Alphabet, according to Globe and Mail. ladle.
Citing anonymous sources, North is essentially “stripped of parts” and Alphabet sees the acquisition as an easy way to reenter the consumer smart glasses market with minimal or effective effort. Part of the problem appears to be the company’s failed implementation of its Focals by North product. Despite its patents and talented team of engineers, the company had not solved any problems in its custom tuning process. The Globe and Mail reports that the company struggled to accommodate Asian and black clients, as its “facial structures did not always match the sizes North had available.” Similarly, there were issues with fitting people with longer lashes, and the company reportedly struggled to quickly adjust the glasses with prescription lenses. The report also cites an unidentified source saying executives were aware of this problem, noting that approximately 20% of people “just couldn’t use Focals.”
None of this is particularly surprising. Having passed through the Complete focal adjustment process for GizmodoNorth definitely intended custom settings as a selling point for consumers. However, it was also a long process that would likely deter everyone except the earliest early adopters. He forced me to walk to North’s physical store in Brooklyn, and then wait two weeks for the glasses to be made. Once they were ready, I had to go to the store for a final adjustment before I could take them home. If I had chosen to get prescription glasses, the wait would have been approximately six weeks. Last fall, North introduced an AR phone app to help people prepare for glasses without needing to go to the store, but the Globe and Mail says that most people did have problems with the glasses, and eventually returned them.
Another problem was that the glasses had limited functionality beyond notifications – they had many of the same features as a smartwatch, but were less useful. The holographic portion had to be positioned exactly like this and it was difficult to see under bright lighting. Also, without access to a sizable app store, users were pretty limited to anything North could develop or get integrations, like Alexa or Uber. And while he was able to send text messages from his glasses, the process involved his friends receiving messages from a totally different number.
G / O Media may receive a commission
These problems were similar to those faced by all other companies that attempted to make consumer smart glasses. That said, Focals by North was a remarkable entry precisely because it targeted consumers at a time when most companies, including Google and Microsoft, had turned their AR experience toward business.
At first it was apparent that despite creating a functional and aesthetically pleasing product, North was struggling to sell units. The company cut the price Focals from $ 1,000 to $ 600 a few weeks after launch in January 2019, and then fired 150 employees at the end of February. Following the layoffs, the Canadian government then pulled out his $ 18 million investment at the company, asking him to repay the amount he had disbursed. By December 2019, North said he was no longer selling the first-generation Focals, and was working on the next iteration of the product. Those second-generation glasses have yet to materialize.
It makes sense that Alphabet is interested in acquiring the struggling North, but it’s premature to assume that this may signal Google’s return to consumer-oriented smart glasses any time soon. First of all, Google just launched its Glass Enterprise Edition 2 A year ago. me spoke to Jay Kothari, The leader of the Google project for Glass, last summer and when asked about a possible return to the consumer market, reiterated Google’s commitment to the business space. Okay, things may have changed since then. In the past few months, there have been multiple rumors that Apple is preparing for its own AR smart glasses sometime in 2023.
Still, all the evidence points to the fact that consumers are still not convinced by the idea of smart glasses or AR headsets. Last week, Bose announced that it was closing its Bose AR division. Like North, he launched his Bose Frames smart sunglasses in 2019. Similarly, Magic Leap failed with disappointing sales of its first-generation headphones. In April laid off almost half of its workforce and has since confirmed that it is shifting towards a business strategy first. In short, the news of an impending sale in the North seems to fit the fate of other consumer-oriented AR glasses.
Do you know something about Google acquiring North? You can send a suggestion to [email protected] or email me on Twitter (@vicmsong) for Signal.
.
