Podcast Summary: The Entrepreneurs – "Have smart glasses finally grown up?"

Host: Monocle Radio (Tom Edwards, Interviewer)
Guests: Will Wong (CEO, Even Realities), Nikolaj Snore (CSO, Even Realities), Michael Ward (Managing Director, Harrods)
Date: February 18, 2026

Overview

This episode explores the intersection of cutting-edge wearable technology and luxury retail. The first segment delves into how the smart glasses market is evolving, with a deep-dive into Even Realities, a company determined to bring together fashion, health, and tech in a new generation of smart eyewear. The episode then pivots to the luxury retail landscape in the UAE, with Harrods’ Michael Ward reflecting on why the region is becoming a powerhouse in global luxury and how iconic brands maintain freshness and appeal.

Segment 1: Are Smart Glasses All Grown Up?

[00:38]–[19:44]

Even Realities: Building a Next-Gen Wearable

The Origin Story

• Will Wong explains that after engineering at Apple Watch/iPhone, he realized the next transformative wearable could be smart glasses.
  • “Wearables is just another different kind of tech where it's not only tech, it's also fashion, it's also lifestyle, it's health. Right. So it's everything.” — Will Wong [02:39]
• To build best-in-class smart glasses, he assembled a cross-disciplinary team: engineers, designers, optical and medical experts.
  • “When you wanted to make a wearable product good, you cannot only have good engineers. You should also have good designers. You should have people with good taste… and from the medical background…” — Will Wong [03:01]
• Nikolaj Snore, formerly from Lindbergh Eyewear, was recruited for his expertise after being convinced this wasn’t “just another gadget” but real eyewear embedded with technology.
  • “I have been a part of building the best eyewear ever done in Lindbergh. Now I'm part of a team to build the best smart glass product ever been around.” — Nikolaj Snore [05:04]

David vs. Goliath: Competing with Tech Giants

• Wong compares their focused startup approach with the diffused efforts of giants like Apple, Meta, and Samsung.
  • “The bigger companies... they're trying to shoot the target with a shotgun probably 100 meters away… But like for us, we only have one bullet but we're using a sniper gun... we're aiming really straight.” — Will Wong [07:00]
• Smaller scale and unified culture allow Even Realities to be nimble, with Wong knowing every team member personally.
• Snore draws inspiration from companies like Dyson and Tesla, citing that disruptive innovation often comes from ambitious startups.

The Smart Glasses User Experience

• Core features:
  • A heads-up display (HUD) layered at adjustable distances in the user’s vision.
  • Productivity tools aimed at professionals: real-time teleprompters, live translation, and context-aware assistance.
  • “One of the best used features… Upload your scripts from your phone… the script will be floating right in front of you... and the AI is picking up your voice so you know exactly where you're reading, so it's scrolling for you.” — Will Wong [09:47]
  • Used at the Dubai summit: “I actually had my talk points written out on my glasses.” — Will Wong [10:59]
• Live translation: Enables users to speak or follow presentations in foreign languages, with instant subtitling.
  • “I had the whole presentation in a big ballroom, translated directly in my glasses.” — Nikolaj Snore [11:28]
  • “So it's like life with subtitles.” — Interviewer [11:35]
• Security & Privacy: No cameras on the glasses to ensure user and bystander comfort.

Product, Design, and Manufacturing Challenges

• Emphasis on making the glasses lightweight and comfortable:
  • “My biggest concern was weight... There's a certain [acceptable] weight for normal everyday glasses... We basically weighed exactly the same as an average pair of glasses. The battery time is... 48 hours.” — Nikolaj Snore [13:39]
• High adjustability so the glasses adapt easily to different faces.
  • “Can the glass be changed to the face? …we will manage to make them so bendable… adjustability on the nose, on the ears… All that has to go hand in hand…” — Nikolaj Snore [14:32]

Individual Expression & Product Range

• Most eyewear brands offer hundreds of shapes/styles, but top sellers concentrate among a few.
  • Even Realities chose a practical approach: initially two flagship shapes (square and round) with hundreds of prototypes tested for universal fit.
  • “If we only have one square and one round, how can we make those two the best or the most compatible ones for most faces?... The square and the round we end up with looks good... on different faces.” — Will Wong [16:05]
• The discipline of limited choices creates focus and universal appeal.

Market Launch & Strategy

• Their launch began with Europe’s highest-end opticians, validating the product where standards are highest.
  • “If they will accept the product... anybody will accept the quality of our product. So we took... the most difficult part first… rolled it out in four or five months to 350 top end opticians throughout Europe.” — Nikolaj Snore [18:16]
• Just beginning US, Middle Eastern, and Asian expansion, plus developing online distribution.
• Will Wong’s vision: “we definitely wanted to be the absolute category leader… sort of like… EV, you will think about Tesla.”

Notable Quotes

• “It's not impossible to fight against the big ones if you just better. It's all about having a better idea and having good execution.” — Nikolaj Snore [08:51]
• “We wanted to make the smart glasses that's actually balancing out both the medical, both the fashion, and also tech, but while providing you really digital meaning to your life.” — Will Wong [04:17]
• “So it's like life with subtitles.” — Interviewer (Monocle Host) [11:35]

Segment 2: The UAE’s Growing Luxury Market

[19:44]–[27:28]

Michael Ward on the UAE, Harrods, and Modern Retail

Why the UAE?

• Ward explains that the UAE is now a magnet for luxury retail, driven by a new generation eager for brand experiences, not just purchases.
  • “It's natural that luxury gravitates here. And this is a younger generation of people who have learned luxury and grown up with the brands. So it's natural that they move forward and progress with those brands…” — Michael Ward [20:40]
• New brands from the Gulf are appearing in Harrods, not just being imported.

Dynamism vs. Tradition

• The UK is “wrapped in tradition”; the UAE operates with fewer barriers and greater appetite for innovation.
  • “We've got a lot of tradition in the UK, whereas here there doesn't seem to be any barriers to where they wish to go… And I think it's that lack of barriers that's the really exciting part.” — Michael Ward [21:24]

Supporting Young Designers

• Harrods supports regional initiatives like Fashion Trust of Arabia and hosts showcases for global young talent.
  • “Giving the world stage to young talent is important to us.” — Michael Ward [22:34]

Staying Relevant and Fresh

• Harrods’ reputation isn’t taken for granted; every year they “earn” their position via innovation, quality, and service.
  • “The worst possible thing a person can be is complacency. So we have no natural right. We have to go out every year and we have to earn it.” — Michael Ward [22:57]
• Adopts a data-driven, regional persona approach to cater to global high-net-worth clients.
  • “With social media now and with insights, we can actually get all of that information.” — Michael Ward [24:56]

The Emotional Core of Harrods

• On returning to Harrods after years:
  • “I come out of the tube every morning and I see that building and it makes me smile… It's 20 years of your life. If you're not emotional or you haven't got this real passion for it, don't do it. It's not a 9 to 5.” — Michael Ward [26:53–27:07]

Notable Quotes

• “We have to understand their product requirements and making we present it in a traditional quintessential way. But that doesn't mean that we can't be playful with product.” — Michael Ward [25:08]
• “We’ve got the best merchants in the world… constantly looking around the world for the very, very, very best product. We then become relevant to those companies because they want to be in Harrods.” — Michael Ward [25:55]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:32] Will Wong’s “elevator pitch” for Even Realities.
• [05:54] Competing with big tech’s scale.
• [09:26] UX and feature set of Even Realities smart glasses.
• [11:15] Real-time translation use case.
• [13:39] Overcoming design and comfort barriers.
• [17:23] Balancing individual expression with manufacturing realities.
• [18:16] Market entry strategy and expansion.
• [20:40] Michael Ward on luxury retail in the UAE.
• [22:11] Supporting regional and global fashion talent.
• [26:53] The emotional connection to the Harrods legacy.

Conclusion

This episode provides an engaging exploration of innovation at the intersection of technology and lifestyle. Even Realities shows how smart glasses, once dismissed as awkward gadgets, are becoming refined, daily-use products—fuelled by engineering rigor and design discipline. Meanwhile, Harrods demonstrates how established brands evolve, blending tradition with a fresh, customer-focused approach, especially in vibrant emerging markets like the UAE.

Listeners come away with a sense that in both tech and luxury, the future belongs to those who combine craft, vision, and the courage to lead rather than follow.