Unveiled at the recent CES and now available in the U.S., the enigmatic Rabbit R1—aimed at transforming mobile experiences—appears to be a dud!
What is the Rabbit R1?
According to Jesse Lyu, the founder and CEO of Rabbit, the device isn’t meant to replace your smartphone like Humane’s Ai Pin (which was a disaster). Instead, it’s designed to function more like a remote control for your apps.
Rabbit aims to offer you a simpler and more intuitive device than your smartphone with the R1, leveraging AI technology. It has been engineered to succeed where virtual assistants such as Siri, Alexa, or Google Assistant have fallen short. The company developed a powerful AI (a Large Action Model) capable of delivering a response in less than 5 ms. The device is universal and designed to interact with any application, ready to handle all kinds of voice commands, whether it’s a simple query, activating music on a device, managing smart home setups, or even analyzing what its small camera captures.
A Disappointing Failure
Last month, Humane admitted to the failure of its AI Pin, and now Jesse Lyu has revealed that the R1 has only 5,000 daily active users—a disappointingly low number. So far, the team has rolled out 16 updates for the R1 since its initial shipment date, but these efforts have not been enough to generate excitement. The product was likely launched prematurely and wasn’t fully developed.
The situation at Humane isn’t looking much better. According to the latest figures, the number of product returns has surpassed sales. This situation is rather bleak: internally, it’s reported that only about 7,000 units remain in the hands of customers.
Moreover, a thousand orders were canceled before they even shipped—indicating a lack of commercial success. Overall, Humane has recorded just over $9 million in revenue and about $1 million in returned products.
The nightmare doesn’t end there, as the firm is unable to refurbish the products for resale. The returns are either headed for the scrap heap or direct recycling—a total loss! With six years of development and over $200 million invested, it could become one of the most significant flops of 2024.
This does not bode well for other products currently in development. There’s notable curiosity about the new project that Jony Ive and Sam Altman are reportedly working on in secret.