बेटा, be ready for Metaverse

In January this year, Mark Zuckerberg announced that mobile phones will be replaced by smart glasses. This comes after no surprise, when his Meta acquired a 9.99% stake in JioPlatforms in April 2020. And Jio had announced their JioGlasses that same year. But the JioGlasses was showcased in the Indian Mobile Congress only in 2023. And it was October 2021 when Zuckerberg announced the change of Facebook’s name to Meta as well as the launch of its Metaverse—a unified, immersive digital environment—a combination of AR and VR technologies. But I hope you remember Google Glass, right? It was launched way back—a decade ago, to be precise, in 2013! While Meta’s rival Snapchat launched its Snap Spectacles in 2016 and still continues to support it. 2023 is also when Ray Ban and Meta collaborated to launch the Ray-Ban Meta glasses.

But somehow, somewhat, things don’t seem to pick up pace with the smart glasses and AR-VR headsets. Google Glass, it is understandable. Though it was a good technical innovation, it was still an accessory—a fashion accessory. And you DO NOT promote or launch a product that is considered a fashion accessory through a beta developer community! A Milan ramp would have been a better way to attract eyeballs and adoption. Another reason for low adoption is that even if we decide to promote such beta glasses to a dev community, most of them are prescription glass-wearing nerds and geeks! If you are already a prescription glasses user, then the only way you could use a Google Glass was to wear it on top of your daily spectacles!

There is one more reason. Such smart glasses don’t use external or in-ear speakers. Rather, they use your skullbone as speakers. You can’t suddenly ask people, “Let me use your skull as speakers” one day. Only now can we hear Rory Sutherland, Ogilvy Chairman, raving about bone conduction headsets on podcasts. Trusting an adman… (ha.. says an adman!). Talking about VR headsets, well, they definitely have the accessibility issue for presciption glass users. On top of that is an innate mobility fear in people, adults especially. While playing a game or exploring the pyramids of Giza, no one wants to step on their robovac and fall on their pet cat!

Not only do wearables have the adoption issue. But internet solutions like video commerce face the hurdles. For those new to video commerce, it is basically shopping features within videos. Think of Instagram Reels + Shopping Cart inside the video screen or YouTube Livestream + Shoppable Product List inside the video stream. Livestream shopping began in China in the 2016s. But it caught steam and gained popularity during the COVIDs in 2020. Post that many social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram have been trying to introduce it mainstream, but consumer adoption is low.

In case of YouTube, it is the opposite. YouTube may think twice to push video commerce and livestream commerce because its current revenue model largely focuses on displaying video ads on videos. This can conflict with video commerce and create some UX issues. Moreover, influencers on YouTube majorly make their revenue through ads, sponsorships, and affiliate links. This can conflict with video commerce adoption too. Because the influencers would have to take up the headache of maintaining or managing the storefront solutions required for video commerce.

When you look closely, what you are basically seeing is the first mover problems in the innovation world. Yes, as there is the first mover advantage, there is the first mover disadvantage too. Tech giants are waiting to see who is going to move first, move the lawns, and take the expense of changing consumer behavior. Whoever does it first will face the heat, while making it easier for the later entrants to speed up. There are many such examples for inventions. Take for example,

• The Telephone (Invented: 1876, Mass Adoption: Early 1900s)
• The Light Bulb (Invented: 1879, Mass Adoption: 1920s)
• The Internet (Invented: 1960s, Mass Adoption: Late 1990s)
• Electric Cars (Invented: 1800s, Mass Adoption: 2010s-Present)
• Artificial Intelligence (Concept: 1950s, Mass Adoption: 2020s)

Now the electric car is an interesting one. If you read its history, you will understand that the major delay in adoption from the time it was invented was due to the oil and automobile cartels. Oil companies and petroleum car makers were naturally left threatened by the invention and played a significant role in delaying electric car’s adoption. A 100% possibility of the vice versa is true too. Just like an industry can delay adoption of an invention, it can significantly fast-track it. Take, for example, the sunglasses, smartwatches, walkie-talkies, VR headsets, and many other inventions that got popularized and mass adopted all thanks to the cinema industry or movies like James Bond.

Which means that smart glasses and the metaverse can also get mass adopted. Either through joint efforts by tech giants or through the movie and fashion industry. The socio-tech industry is currently setting up the stage for immersive and interactive virtual experiences using wearables. Hence, it is always best to be prepared before hand rather than wait for a snowball effect. UI/UX designers, product managers, and technopreneurs can start adding smart glass interfaces, metaverse, and video commerce solutions to their portfolio. One can always start small. Take video and see how we can innovate it further.

Here are some inspirations for you to try:

▶️ + 🗳️ (voting, polls or signing petitions)
▶️ + ⁉️ (quizes)
▶️ + 📧 (enter email/Whatsapp number to receive something)
▶️ + 📋 (signup/fill form from within a video)
▶️ + 🔐 (some sort of authorization, like say in dating videos)
▶️ + 📜 (download certificate or anything)

How else can we innovate the video or the video platforms/player?