After backlash, Meta is pausing a “rate capping” plan for its smart glasses

The company is no Abandon the idea of ​​charging a subscription fee for some features, and still move forward. “Some premium features will be subscription-based over time,” Yee confirms.

But Conversation Focus, an accessibility feature, “will remain available for free through our early access program to early testers while we work on a better approach.”

This is one of the company’s statements Edge:

Meta’s AI Glasses offer a lot of value for free, some of the premium features will depend on subscription over time, and focusing on conversation is what we want to make sure we’re doing right. We’ve heard the feedback so we’ve paused sign-up testing for the time being. Focus on Conversation will continue to be available for free through our website Early access program For early testers while we work on a better approach.

The most ridiculous part of Meta’s original plan was the “price caps”. Mita made it seem like this necessary To charge a Conversation Focus subscription because running this service has an additional cost, so much so that even paid subscribers will only get 15 hours of Conversation Focus per month. This was easy to disprove: when I disconnected my Meta Ray-Bans from the Internet, the feature continued to work.

But Meta doesn’t actually promise to give up those “price caps.”

I asked: “Since the focus of the conversation is on the device and the Meta understands the backlash, is it a thought that it won’t be rate limited anymore?”

Meta’s answer: “We don’t have any further details to share, but its subscription testing is currently paused and we’re still exploring all of our options for the best approach.”

Yee says “not all” premium features will be subscription-based. He points out that the reason Meta charges a subscription fee is so it can subsidize hardware prices, not maintain the features themselves:

We’re selling hardware at affordable prices to get AI glasses into the hands of as many people as possible, and they offer a lot of value for free, so some premium features will be subscription-based over time. Charging premium users for extended use of premium features is how we maintain this strategy and continue to invest in advanced capabilities.

I don’t know if I would call $299 Meta Ray-Bans “free.” But I know that’s dead It continues to make people angry no Like her glassesSo it would be dangerous to anger those who… He does Like them too. I suspect the company has already decided that Conversation Focus will remain free, but is saving that announcement for later – to balance out the reveal of other features that will actually cost money.