| Way back in 2013, right before Mark Zuckerberg took his social-networking company public, the Facebook CEO tried to build a phone. Codenamed “Buffy,” Facebook’s phone project evolved over time from an ambitious all-in-one smartphone into something much more pedestrian: a software layer built on top of an HTC device. Dubbed the “Facebook Phone” and unveiled at a major press event at the company’s headquarters, the project was ultimately a flop. But the motivations behind Buffy never went away. Zuckerberg has long struggled with a lack of control over the distribution of his company’s products. For Facebook and Instagram to reach consumers, Zuckerberg must rely on smartphones powered by Apple and Google, two competitors who certainly don’t make Meta a key consideration when building their mobile operating systems. “We would be a lot more profitable, our business would be bigger, if we hadn’t gotten all these random taxes or rules that the mobile platforms have put on us,” Zuckerberg told Bloomberg last summer. For years, that lack of leverage has left Zuckerberg searching for a solution. In AI-powered smart glasses, he hopes that he’s found one. Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses 2nd generation at a Meta Platforms event in San Francisco, California, US, on Sept. 18, 2023. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg Meta has spent years building its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, which have become one of Zuckerberg’s favorite things to talk about on earnings calls, and he frequently wears them himself. Just this week, Meta invested $3.5 billion into EssilorLuxottica, a global eyewear manufacturer and parent company of Ray-Ban. It’s a sign of Zuckerberg’s belief that AI-powered smart glasses may one day replace your smartphone. Instead of walking around with a supercomputer in your pocket, you’ll be wearing one on your face — and if all goes well, Meta will have built it. What remains unclear is whether this is the future that consumers want. Are there enough people out there eager to take pictures and videos with glasses, or to speak out loud to an AI assistant while walking down the sidewalk? Are people who don’t need to even willing to wear glasses all the time? Unlike a smartphone, smart glasses are also a fashion statement. So far, early results sound promising. Meta sold 1 million pairs of its Ray-Ban glasses last year, Zuckerberg told employees in January. In April, he told investors that sales had tripled and monthly active users had quadrupled over the past year. But jumping from 1 million to 10 million or 100 million could take a long time — if it happens at all — and Meta is staring down the prospect of stiffer competition. As Zuckerberg told employees in January, “We basically invented the category and our competitors haven’t really shown up yet.” That’s about to change in a big way as Apple is planning its own AI glasses debut in 2026. Apple’s arrival validates Zuckerberg’s investment. It also poses a major challenge to his vision. — Kurt Wagner, Bloomberg Tech Would you wear AI glasses? Email us your thoughts: weekend@bloomberg.net | 