Should Meta Offer Its Glasses Hardware to Manufacturers in India?

Contributor - Bhavana Ramesh
October 3, 2024
5 min read

Share:

Harnessing the Future of Emotional AI, Ethical Tech, and Social Connectivity

Meta’s smart glasses venture might just be on the verge of a major leap. The glasses are sleek, functional, and already packed with powerful tech that could redefine how we interact with our surroundings, our communities, and ourselves. But what would that mean for India’s bustling consumer market? And how does this play into Meta’s larger vision of emotional intelligence, ethical AI, and social connection?

Seeing the Future

India, with its rapidly growing tech-savvy population and dynamic startup ecosystem, is a goldmine for innovation. The country boasts one of the largest smartphone user bases in the world, with millions of daily interactions taking place on Meta-owned platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram. So, imagine what could happen if Meta’s glasses were put in the hands of Indian manufacturers, customized for local needs, and priced to suit the diverse population.

For Safety

For many users, the primary use case would be obvious: recording driving and riding interactions. After all, India is home to over 230 million two-wheelers, and the roads are a theater of unpredictability, road rages among other astonishing incidents. Dashcams and Go Pros have grown in popularity for a reason. Smart glasses could take this trend a step further by allowing users to capture these experiences seamlessly, hands-free, and in real-time. With sharp cameras, these glasses can quickly replace Go-pros in no time.

by Abhijith Anil on Youtube

Picture this: You're riding through bustling traffic, the wind in your face, and with a simple tap, your glasses are documenting the ride—every turn, every honk, every moment.

It’s easy to see why this would appeal to millions. But this is only the beginning.

For Productivity

Over 200Mn people in India are occupied in the Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, Mining, Quarrying, Manufacturing and Utilities sectors. Broadly, an even larger 69% work in the “non-services” sector. Many of these jobs require visual and spatial intelligence. Such as being able to spot the quality of produce, or record an item after inspection. Once Meta shares its hardware and software to developers in India, local innovation will take root to create affordable versions that can run novel apps written for Meta’s firmware.

For Social Connection

India’s market is also one where social connections are deeply valued. Meta’s glasses could be an extension of this—creating new ways for people to share their lives, not just through static photos or texts, but through live, first-person narratives. Imagine families living thousands of miles apart staying connected through shared experiences in real-time, or content creators offering audiences an immersive look into their world.

Understanding Emotional Nuance: The Heart of Meta's Vision

Meta’s broader ambition with its hardware isn’t just about recording and capturing moments; it’s about truly understanding how we feel during those moments. Whether for the purpose of showing relevant content during the next instagram event, or for offering the user direct applications relevant to mood stability. Emotional intelligence is becoming an increasingly important pursuit of technology—think algorithms that understand not just what you’re saying, but how and why you’re saying it. With smart glasses in India, Meta could gain insights into user behavior, understanding emotional cues through facial expressions, voice modulation, and even body language in the largest market in the world.

By integrating emotional intelligence into smart glasses, Meta would pave the way for technology that responds not only to your commands but to your moods. Imagine a scenario where your glasses detect frustration during a long, chaotic commute and offer a calming playlist or suggest a quiet detour based on real-time traffic conditions.

Emotional AI isn’t about the machine understanding you—it’s about the machine helping you understand yourself.

Orion, Meta’s first pair of Augmented Reality Glasses. Taking the existing Ray-Ban smart glasses to the next level, The Orion boasts a 70-degree field view with seven cameras embedded into the frame. The glasses can be controlled through voice or a neutral interface wristband that interprets the slightest hand motions.

Ethical AI and Social Connections: Trust Matters

With great power comes great responsibility. Ensuring data privacy and ethical usage is paramount. Meta’s partnerships with Indian manufacturers would need to incorporate stringent data protection standards and transparent communication about what’s being captured and stored. In addition, Meta would need to automatically blur the faces and figures of people, but ensure that objects are crystal clear.

In a country as diverse and vibrant as India, ethical AI is crucial. Meta has been vocal about building technology that is both inclusive and respectful of user privacy. By collaborating with local manufacturers, users get access to a local brand they can hold accountable for transgressions, to ensure that the consumer and enterprise products respect cultural nuances and diverse user needs.

In the early 2000s, local jewellers dominated purchases due to trust. Tanishq launched their Karatmeter campaign to test the purity of existing jewelry owned by customers and even offered to exchange the slightly impure gold for pure gold from Tanishq. This made Tanishq the poster child for purity and trust in the market, setting them on the path to $4 billion in revenue over the next two decades.

Smart glasses are not just about what you see—they’re about how you experience it.

The Bigger Picture: Meta's Strategic Move

For Meta, offering its glasses hardware to Indian manufacturers isn’t just a business decision—it’s a strategic move to deepen its roots in one of the world’s most important tech markets. By empowering local manufacturers, Meta can customize the product for different demographics, create region-specific features, and make the glasses accessible to a much wider audience.

More importantly, this could be Meta’s big play in shaping the future of human-tech interaction, with India at the helm. As users begin to rely on these devices, it’s likely that the glasses will evolve from being just a tool for capturing content to a full-fledged hub for AI-driven interaction—bridging the gap between the digital and physical worlds.

How to foster adoption and enable production in a market like India

1. Early Adopters: India’s top 5Mn households (~2%) hold more than 50% of the country’s wealth and also contribute disproportionately to consumption. Over the next decade, their discretionary spend pool will climb to $100Bn. This is the sector to get early adopters from.

2. Sticky Applications: Initially position the glasses as a lightweight, hands-free alternative to traditional dashcams, providing a comprehensive view of the road and driver or rider attention. Once users become accustomed to wearing them while driving, they’ll likely discover their potential as a tool for capturing life’s moments, from hiking adventures to concert experiences, and as economies of scale become apparent, in enterprise applications as well.

3. Monetization strategies: beyond digital ads are gaining momentum among Indian consumer apps. Social and content platforms like Moj, Sri Mandir, Seekho, STAGE, FRND, and AstroTalk have scaled on the back of newer direct forms of user monetization, including subscriptions, microtransactions, and digital services.

4. Price Sensitivity and Affordable indulgence: Despite the growing wealth at the top, 62% of consumers will wait for a sale or discount days to make any high value purchases. Small price changes significantly impact demand due to price elasticity. Simultaneously, Consumers are increasingly prioritising affordable yet functional electronics such as TWS earbuds and activity wearables over larger, more expensive items such as LCD TVs and laptops. Devices that offer immediate gratification and align with their mobile-centric lifestyle, and are relatively affordable, encourage quick adoption and consistent consumer spending.

5. Co-Branding and Distribution: The Indian eyewear market was valued at around US\$9.7 billion in 2023. Lenskart alone has over 2000 stores. Despite the arrangement with RayBan, and while similar local brands are great co-branding opportunities, frame production prowess is not necessary for the production of smart glasses.

6. Production: Smartphones for example, have become the fourth-largest export item from India, with a 42% rise to reach US$ 15.6 billion in the FY24 and moving one rank up in list of top exported commodities. Meta could work with India’s growing smartphone assembly ecosystem to support the launch of local brands.

7. Design: Design, develop and engineer value with a capable partner. At Bang Design, we’re excited about the future of human-tech interaction. Our team is ready to help businesses design and create intuitive, user-centered interfaces and devices that harness the power of AI and emotional intelligence. Want to be part of the next big wave in design and technology? Let’s create something extraordinary together.

Recent Blogs

Why Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication in Product Design

a lot of people close together

Design for Developing Economies: The Key to Unlocking Growth in Consumer Technology and Durables

What Designers Can Learn from Marvel Post-Avengers: Endgame

a salad of various colorful letters on a black background

How to Name Your Invention (Without Sounding Like a Toothpaste)

magnifier and compass on an old map

How to Use Value Innovation to Open New Markets