North, the company behind the designer smartglasses Focals, dropped the price from $999 to $599 for non-prescription frames, introduced $799 prescription frames, and new “Pop-up Showrooms” in San Francisco and Seattle in the near future.
“Our Showrooms in Brooklyn and Toronto have been a great starting place, but we’ve had a lot of demand outside of those markets,” said Stephen Lake, CEO and co-founder of North, in a statement. “With our new Pop-up Showroom, we’ll be able to bring Focals to potential customers all across North America,” “We’re starting with Seattle and the Bay Area, but will be expanding beyond there soon. Stay tuned.”
According to a company spokesperson, the goal of the price drop is to bring the cost closer to customers’ expectations for standard eyewear. The new price is intended to attract customers who found the original price too steep for the limited AR functionality, just as the company’s retail roadshow will help it move units outside of New York and Toronto.
This price drop is the first step that North needs to get Focals out into the general consumer’s hands to familiarize themselves with unobtrusive wearables, similarly to what Huawei could be doing with their next AR glasses. Speaking as someone with an expensive prescription, for a similar price, getting the added benefit of augmented reality could be worth making the leap, depending on how useful the glasses can be in the day-to-day.
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