Innovative Eyewear (NASDAQ: LUCY) is up well over 200% (212% at pixel time) on the launch of its Lucyd app. Essentially, what this does is bring ChatGPT into the frames of those smart spectacles. At which point, well, what do we think? Sure, the stock is roaring ahead because this is very cool, hip and fashionable. But is it actually going to lead to some considerable set of sales?
Well, the first answer is that LUCY doesn't need some considerable set of sales. The market capitalisation is around the $11 million mark, so we're not exactly talking about a corporate giant here. What would be rounding errors for Essilor - or other major players - would be an entire corporate transformation for Innovative Eyewear. So there is that, they only need some few thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of new customers to make a real difference.
Innovative Eyewear stock price from NASDAQ
This makes judging how this will work out rather difficult. We all know that Google Glass didn't work (and not only because some decided that shouting “Open Goatse” at people wearing them was a fun idea) but a goodly part of that is simply that Google is a vast corporation. Things that make a difference have to be at scale. For a company like LUCY which is, even to be polite about it, a tiddler, then seemingly marginal markets for others can be a corporate feast. So, we're not talking about whether millions are going to make this their eyewear of preference. Some comparative handful of hipsters will be enough.
It's worth noting that it's not actually Chat GPT into the glasses. It's an app that carries Chat GPT and it can go into AirPods and all sorts of other presentation devices. It's an app, that is, not a special pair of glasses. So, how much of this will flow over into more sales of spectacle frames is unknown.
It's also possible to be cynical here. As we like to be around here. Quite possibly the greatest value here is that newspapers around the world will be writing up - as we are - that the Innovative Eyewear stock went up 212%. Which is free advertising that an $11 million company simply wouldn't be able to afford to buy. That is, the biggest effect might well be nothing about ChatGPT and sales at all, but about people talking about ChatGPT.
