20/20: What do you think sets the Carerra Smart Glasses with Alexa apart from other smart glasses on the market?
Alessandro Bellati: We became the first player in the eyewear industry to create a personal assistance device installed on glasses. This way, the product leverages the everyday convenient support of a powerful personal assistant engine with the pleasant and wearable form factor of a stylish pair of Carrera eyewear. In the current competitive space, our value preposition is unparalleled: style matched with function, extreme lightness for everyday use and an unparallel ecosystem of connected digital services ranging from personal digital assistants to IoT interactions powered by Alexa.
Could you go into more detail about some of the features that come with these smart glasses?
The Carrera Smart Glasses with Alexa collection which includes two iconic frame styles, Carrera Cruiser and Carrera Sprinter, are a combination of high-end fashion with Alexa artificial intelligence (AI). The new smart glasses feature open-ear audio technology to accurately direct sound to the ears without covering them, while minimizing what others around can hear.
In addition to the hands-free Alexa features customers already know and love, like listening to music and podcasts, making calls, setting reminders, adding items to shopping or to-do lists, controlling smart home devices to turn lights on or off and more, or asking Alexa for information while on the go, Carrera Smart Glasses are loaded with even more features to simplify customers’ lives:
- Connect simultaneously to multiple devices: You can seamlessly pair and switch between two audio sources connected to your Carrera Smart Glasses, without toggling the settings. That means you can take a video call on your laptop and simply switch to listening to music on your phone when walking out the door.
- Start a playlist with a press of a button: With this new audio entertainment feature, you won’t need to fumble around with your phone or say anything to begin playing music—simply double press the back action button to start a recommended playlist.
- Filter notifications: The VIP Filter allows you to hear the notifications that are most important to you, without taking out your phone. The feature also recognizes when you are listening to audio and delivers a low distraction chime without disrupting your flow.
- Locate misplaced glasses: Alexa can help locate lost or misplaced smart glasses. Once set up, simply say, “Alexa, find my smart glasses,” to another Echo device or in the Alexa app, and you will hear the glasses’ last-known location.
In the future, do you hope that there will be more Carrera Smart Glasses styles available to consumers?
Depending on the market reception and the commercial success of this initiative, we are very open to proposing more SKUs and eventually new Carrera styles. Amazon Alexa and Carrera has shown to be a fantastic match so we don’t think this journey should necessarily stop here. Looking ahead, there could be potential to enter the smart eyewear category with additional brands within the Safilo portfolio. The thought is there but it’s still too early in the adoption phase to move further.
