Meta, Facebook’s parent corporation, has announced the opening of its first real retail location on May 9 in Burlingame, California. One will be able to have hands-on experience with the company’s hardware goods at the Meta Store. The 1,550-square-foot Meta Store will sell items such as Meta’s first pair of smart glasses in collaboration with Ray-Ban. One would also be able to look at Facebook’s Portal series of video chat gadgets. Also read: Twitter is developing its own status update feature similar to Facebook’s “feelings” function.
“The Meta Store will assist customers in making the connection between how our items can serve as a portal to the metaverse in the future.” “We’re not selling the metaverse in our store, but we hope people will come in and leave knowing a little bit more about how our items can help connect them to it,” said Martin Gilliard, Head of Meta Store, in a statement.
Meta recently announced that it would begin testing capabilities for selling digital goods and experiences within its virtual reality platform Horizon Worlds, which it launched late last year. Meta also stated that it would charge developers of digital experiences and assets a 47.5 percent fee.
“We want you to engage with everything at the Meta Store.” We want you to go shopping. “We want you to feel it,” the business said in a statement.
For the time being, the store will only be open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Meta’s gear can now be purchased online through a new shop link on the company’s website.
Facebook is also rumored to be working on AR glasses as part of its Project Nazare effort, which is set to ship in 2024. In addition, the corporation plans to release the first model in two years, followed by a “lighter, more advanced” model in 2026 and a third model in 2028.
The next AR glasses from Meta are anticipated to work without the use of a smartphone. It will have an outside camera, stereo audio, and the ability to connect with other users’ holograms, just like previous smart glasses. According to sources, it will run on Android and provide “full” AR, including 3D images and eye-tracking.