Is the world ready for smart glasses?

E-commerce giant Amazon is launching its first augmented-reality glasses with the Alexa voice assistant at CES 2018 in Las Vegas.

Vuzix Corp., a leading supplier of smart glasses and AR technologies, is unveiling a pair of smart glasses that can talk to Amazon.com’s voice-activated digital assistant and display information to the wearer’s field of view (imagine having your own personal Jarvis like Iron Man). Vuzix’s Alexa assimilation is part of Amazon’s program that allows third-party hardware manufacturers to put the digital assistant into their products.

Don’t be confused: AR is completely different from VR (virtual reality). The former is a technology that covers digital information like maps, messages, and is “more onto a person’s view of the real world.” VR, on the other hand, submerses a user into a digitally created world. Other tech companies like Apple and Facebook’s Oculus division are also looking into developing smart glasses and AR devices for consumers soon.

Vuzix is planning to release its AR glasses by the second quarter of 2018 and will go for around $1,000 a pair, said Vuzix CEO Paul Travers. “The ultimate goal is to have it under $500, and we’ll be able to do that by 2019,” he added. Wearers must be Amazon customers or should become Amazon customers first before being able to use Alexa’s technology.

Amazon launched its first voice-activated device called Echo back in 2014.

To know more about the wonders of augmented-reality, watch the video below:

Featured image courtesy of Reality Technologies