The company is not giving up on the idea of a subscription fee for certain features \u2014 that\u2019s still moving forward. Yee confirms that \u201csome premium features will be subscription-based over time.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Conversation Focus, the accessibility feature, \u201cwill remain available for free through our Early Access Program for early testers while we work on a better approach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s one of the company\u2019s statements to The Verge:<\/p>\n
Meta\u2019s AI glasses pack a lot of value for free, and some premium features will be subscription-based over time\u2014and conversation focus is one we want to make sure we get right. We heard the feedback so we\u2019re pausing its subscription test for now. Conversation focus will remain available for free through our Early Access Program<\/a> for early testers while we work on a better approach.<\/p>\n The most ridiculous part of Meta\u2019s original plan was the \u201crate limits.\u201d Meta made it sound like it needed to charge a subscription for Conversation Focus because running that service had an incremental cost, to the point that even paid subscribers would only get 15 hours of Conversation Focus per month. That was easy to disprove: When I disconnected my own Meta Ray-Bans from the internet, the feature kept on working.<\/p>\n But Meta isn\u2019t actually promising to abandon those \u201crate limits.\u201d<\/p>\n I asked: \u201cGiven that Conversation Focus is on-device and Meta understands the backlash, is the thinking that it will no longer be rate-limited?\u201d<\/p>\n Meta\u2019s answer: \u201cWe don\u2019t have any more details to share, but its subscription test is currently paused and we\u2019re still exploring all our options for the best approach.\u201d<\/p>\n Yee says that \u201cnot all\u201d premium features will be subscription-based, though. He hints the reason Meta is charging a subscription is so it can subsidize the price of hardware, not to maintain the features themselves:<\/p>\n We sell hardware at accessible prices to get AI glasses into the hands of as many people as possible and they pack a lot of value for free, so some premium features will be subscription-based over time. Charging power users for expanded use of premium features is how we sustain this strategy and keep investing in breakthrough capabilities.<\/p>\n