Following the announcement of its first smart glasses with a built-in display, Meta is opening several temporary retail locations where you'll be able to demo the Meta Ray-Ban Display, their Meta Neural Band controller and the rest of the company's Reality Labs products. These new "Meta Lab" locations will offer another way to see the company's new $799 smart glasses, which currently aren't available for purchase without an in-person demo and fitting.
For the rollout of the Meta Ray-Ban Display, Meta Lab locations will be available to visit in Las Vegas starting on October 16, Los Angeles starting on October 24 and New York starting on November 13. Meta also says interested Bay Area customers will be able to demo and purchase the new smart glasses at the company's existing Meta Store location in Burlingame, which has been rebranded as a "Meta Lab."
While the appeal of having the face-mounted camera and speakers of the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses is easy to understand, Meta clearly believes adding a display into the mix changes that calculus. The company says interest in the new glasses is part of the reason it's opening these new retail locations. "Demand for in-person demos of Meta Ray-Ban Display and the Meta Neural Band is strong, with appointments in many major cities already booked out through mid-October," according to Meta. Interestingly, Meta also plans to test selling its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses from vending machines, not unlike Snap did with its Spectacles.
These new Meta Labs join Ray-Ban, Verizon, Best Buy and LensCrafters stores as the only official places where you can try Meta's new wearable. It's hard to say if demand for demos will translate into actual sales, but clearly the positive buzz the company's Connect showing was able to drum up has caught some people's interest. You can book a demo at a Meta Lab through the company's website.