Meta has decided to postpone the international rollout of its Ray-Ban Display glasses due to overwhelming demand in the United States and significant supply constraints. The social media giant announced this decision as it grapples with extremely limited inventory for what it describes as a "first-of-its-kind product."

Delayed International Expansion Plans

The Facebook-parent company had originally planned to launch its augmented reality smart glasses in several international markets starting early this year. The planned expansion included the UK, France, Italy, and Canada, following the success of earlier versions in the US market.

Meta stated it would prioritize fulfilling US orders while re-evaluating its approach to international availability. The company cited the unprecedented demand that has created substantial supply challenges for the innovative eyewear product.

Market Performance and Demand Metrics

The Ray-Ban Display glasses have demonstrated strong market performance since their launch. Key performance indicators show significant consumer interest and market penetration:

Francisco Jeronimo, VP of Data and Analytics for Devices at IDC EMEA, provided these market performance figures, highlighting the product's strong initial reception.

Product Features and Development Partnership

The Ray-Ban Meta glasses, developed in partnership with EssilorLuxottica's Ray-Ban brand, offer multiple advanced functionalities. Users can take photos, stream content, and interact with an AI assistant through the smart eyewear. EssilorLuxottica announced in October that it would accelerate production capacity for its expanding smart glasses business to meet growing demand.

New Feature Announcements at CES

At the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Meta unveiled several new features for both the glasses and its Meta Neural Band wrist device. The company introduced a teleprompter feature that allows users to read notes and scroll using the accompanying wristband device.

Meta also announced the expansion of pedestrian navigation capabilities to four additional cities:

• Denver
• Las Vegas
• Portland
• Salt Lake City

This expansion brings the total number of cities with pedestrian navigation support to 32, enhancing the practical utility of the smart glasses for urban users.

Supply Chain Challenges

The company acknowledged in a blog post that since launching last fall, it has experienced an overwhelming amount of interest in the product. This unprecedented demand has created supply chain pressures that have forced the company to reassess its global rollout strategy and focus resources on meeting existing US market commitments before expanding internationally.

String Metaverse Limited (BSE: META), India's first publicly listed Web3 infrastructure and gaming company, has reported exceptional financial results for the first half of the fiscal year, showcasing robust growth across its gaming and decentralized finance (DeFi) segments.

Financial Highlights

The company's consolidated performance for H1 demonstrates significant year-over-year improvements:

Operational Performance

String Metaverse's gaming division showed strong performance, with its user base expanding from 4 million to 4.7 million, marking a 17.5% quarter-on-quarter growth. This growth was driven by the successful launch of new games, including Idle Mine 3.0, String Drive, String Tetris, and Rabbit 9x.

DeFi and Infrastructure Developments

The company's $IDLE Token generated ₹50 crore in trading volume and processed over 1 million on-chain transactions. String Metaverse also deployed Solana validation nodes, processing ₹80 crore in volume and 1 million DeFi transactions.

String Fintech HK Ltd, a subsidiary, achieved ₹920 crore in perpetual transaction volume across platforms like Deribit and Binance.

Strategic Infrastructure Expansion

To enhance its transaction processing capabilities, String Metaverse established high-performance computing colocation servers in LD-4 for Deribit and TY-4 for Binance and HyperLiquid.

Management Commentary

Ganesh Meenavalli, Managing Director of String Metaverse Ltd, stated, "Q2 marks the strongest quarter in our company's history. Our integrated ecosystem — spanning gaming, DeFi, and high-performance computing — continues to scale exponentially."

He added, "Our growth is not just financial; it's structural. With the $IDLE token now becoming the default settlement layer across our gaming platforms, and with validation nodes and HFT servers live in three global hubs, we are redefining how digital assets and financial infrastructure merge."

Future Outlook

The company's board has approved several fundraising initiatives, including:

• A rights issue of up to ₹60 crore
• A Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP) of up to ₹450 crore
• An additional issuance of up to ₹900 crore through various modes

These funds are expected to support the company's expansion plans and meet Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) requirements.

String Metaverse has also introduced an Employee Stock Option Scheme (ESOP) for 2025, covering 50 lakh equity shares, to align employee interests with the company's growth.

As String Metaverse continues to integrate its gaming, DeFi, and infrastructure offerings, it appears well-positioned to capitalize on the growing Web3 and digital asset markets. However, investors should note that the technology sector can be volatile and subject to regulatory changes.